Sapphire and Steel (1979-82)

I saw it first when I was a kid. I don't remember what age exactly, but it blew my young mind. I saw some of it again in my twenties. It blew my mind once more. You can guess where this is going... yup, and again in my thirties, mind blown. During all that time I encountered nothing else quite like it, so in my experience it's unique.

Wikipedia notes that the show's creator, Peter J. Hammond, gave it the working title of The Time Menders; and while not as seductive or as pleasing to say as Sapphire and Steel, it does a better job at describing what the series is as a whole.

The enigmatic duo are 'operators' that fix time when it goes wrong or when parts of it leak or break through barriers into other parts. It's known that there are 127 operators in total, of which Sapphire (Joanna Lumley) and Steel (David McCallum) are two. Their full role is a mystery, but part of their job is to mend fractures that exist between temporal states; they're a line of defence, preventing the malicious side of past, present and future from destroying itself and everything within it. Time itself is described as a corridor that encompasses all things, so in a way the operators are like interdimensional hall monitors maintaining order.

Joanna Lumley is radiant and sympathetic as Sapphire, although she can paradoxically be sometimes cold and detached at the same time. David McCallum is austere and methodical as Steel. Yes, both are like their names, but I've often wondered if the names came first or if the personalities preceded them.

Stories (called 'assignments') are multi-part, so while there are 34 episodes in total there are only 6 assignments and it's best if you make time to watch all of one assignment in one sitting. Each assignment has a resolution but don't expect to have all questions answered. It's deliciously cryptic but not to the point of bafflement. The editing and use of sound are excellent, keeping events tense and flowing, always engaging and often eerie - at times even chilling.

I feel that the low budget actually works in the production's favour. The feeling that we're on a sound stage adds to the unsettling nature of the environments. It's almost as if for the duration of the assignment they've lost the intangible sense of safety that we unconsciously attribute to traditional notions of reality.

34 episodes, approx 25 minutes each.

5 side doors out of 5

Coma (2005)

A South Korean miniseries set mostly inside a hospital that's almost completely abandoned, having been marked for closure. A young professional woman, Yoon Young (Lee Se Eun), is sent in to check insurance criteria are being met by the few remaining staff members, all of whom are reticent about why there's a single female patient still in the ward. The patient, Lee So Hee (Cha Soo Yun), is in a coma, unable to speak for herself. Why she's there and why she's comatose opens a door to a horror/mystery that leads to a dramatic and creepy conclusion. If you already have a morbid fear of hospitals, then you may want to avoid watching.

The building has ghosts: the dead kind that act independently, with long, face-obscuring hair and a grudge, and the haunting memory kind that are trapped in a moment, destined to replay a tragic event over and over.

Subsequent episodes simultaneously expand upon the sleeping girl's past and offer up new stories with new characters, each somehow tied into it. Within that framework are a small number of different time periods overlapping.

The narrative throws around a lot of what appear to be red herrings as it gathers the disparate threads together, but they weave into a satisfying conclusion, so don't get too frustrated if you feel a little lost from time to time.

It's lit in a very precise way. A lot of the time the colour is either drained out of the picture or the cold, murky appearance of the concrete is extended to every other aspect of production. The closest approximation I can think of is the aesthetic of most survival horror games: the flickering corridor lights, the shit-smeared and blood-stained half-tiled walls, etc.

An over-reliance on the now clichéd Asian horror sounds (clicking/grinding bones and scratching/shuffling corpse) was tiresome, but the series was aired in 2005 and that may have been less of an issue then. Had I been lucky enough to see it in 2005 I'm positive that I'd have liked it more.

5 episodes, approx 55 minutes each. The final episode is the best.

3 unsanctioned after hours operations out of 5

Jonathan Creek: The Judas Tree (2010)

The Judas Tree had Jonathan's spirited opposite, Joey Ross, return for another of the feature-length outings that kept the series sporadically alive for years after the regular weekly format ended. The unlikely duo investigate a macabre mystery involving a ghostly apparition and an unexplained death.

The Adam Klaus character is again shoehorned into the story, but it's less forced this time. However, I did get the feeling more than once that David Renwick was overcompensating for something by filling the story with multiple twists and turns, some of which ask the viewer to make some sizeable leaps of faith and logic. Perhaps the BBC's decision to chop the budget had him worried. To his credit, he managed to not let that aspect visibly weaken the production, and it looks just as good as what he delivered previously.

It employs some clichéd horror movie techniques that I wasn't enamoured with; it's effective in creating atmosphere, sure, but dragging an intellectual drama like Jonathan Creek down to that kind of level cheapened the experience for me.

It excels in other ways, though: the comedy is timely; both Alan Davies and Sheridan Smith play their roles well, with the relationship between them clearly defined and unlikely to be misunderstood; and at one stage it even exposes and draws attention to its own workings, which is a brave thing to do.

Running Time: 94 minutes.

3½ drawing boards out of 5

Jonathan Creek: The Grinning Man (2009)

A feature-length adventure (two whole hours!) that saw the wooly-haired sleuth return to our screens after a lengthy five-year absence.

It's written and directed by creator David Renwick, so the quality is high. The only dip is with the inclusion of an entirely superfluous subplot featuring magician Adam Klaus. I mean no disrespect to Stuart Milligan, but it goes nowhere interesting and serves no purpose other than to give him something to do; its removal would've strengthened the pace of the main plot considerably.

Jonathan (Alan Davies) has been superseded by a younger demographic with less duffel in their wardrobe. When last we saw him, he was being tormented by Carla Borrego (Julia Sawalha), but she's since moved on to graze in pastures new. (What is it with the women of the series? They never stick around for long enough.) Filling her role is Joey Ross, played by Sheridan Smith. Joey performs the same function as the women that came before, which won't surprise anyone, but Sheridan's gung-ho attitude and willingness to get her feet dirty enables the viewer to envision her as having a very different background than Maddie or Carla.

The case involves a sealed attic room in which someone disappeared without a trace over seventy years prior, in 1938. The room's secrets remained hidden, as did the motivations of the designer, but that's only because JC hadn't been around to poke into dusty corners and tempt fate with his trickster’s intuition.

Running Time: 120 minutes.

3½ reality checks out of 5

Jonathan Creek: Series IV (2003 - 2004)

The first three series of JC can be seen as one collective era because they share the same two principal actors, Alan Davies and Caroline Quentin. Caroline chose not to return after Series 3, which left a gap needing filled because Jonathan's character needs an ancillary to bounce ideas off and to get (unintentional) inspiration from. That gap was filled by Carla Borrego (Julia Sawalha).

Carla made the show even better. She's a wonderfully rounded character who brought a similar kind of resourcefulness and determination as Maddie, but with a whole new self-important attitude supporting it. She's vulnerable beneath the hard outer shell, but she goes to great lengths to hide it from the world.

She got her introduction in the 2001 Christmas Special. It's not necessary to have seen it, but it's advisable because it shows the genesis of their relationship and helps explain the boundaries that exist from the offset in Series IV.

They look stern and miserable on the cover. That's really not representative of the pair at all; it's the least flattering image they could've chosen.

Bringing a new woman into Jonathan's life offered an opportunity for new kinds of problems, and she didn't disappoint in that department, either. Maddie used his profile to help sell her books, but Carla uses it to further her TV career, making him a lot more famous in the process, which is something that he'd rather avoid.

She wasn't the only new addition. We'd already had Nigel Planer (Series 1) and Rik Mayall (1998 Xmas Special) as guests, so it made sense to have Ade Edmondson. He gets a quality supporting role and stays for the duration.

6 episodes, approx 60 minutes each.

5 whetted appetites out of 5

Jonathan Creek: Christmas Specials (2008)

There are more specials than what’s included on this release but they weren't made until after 2008, so you'll need to buy them separately if you want them or wait until Auntie groups them all together for a re-release, but who knows if that's on the cards any time soon?

What you do get are two feature-length specials. The first is Black Canary (1998), which takes place sometime between Series 2 and Series 3. The second is Satan's Chimney (2001), which takes place sometime between Series 3 and Series 4.

There are two new characters introduced; one in each of the two episodes.

Firstly, there's Gideon Pryke (Rik Mayall) in Black Canary. Gideon is Jonathan's equal in some ways. He didn't become a regular, but he does make a subsequent appearance in the show, and if things had worked out differently he could've been a great addition. He's woven into a story that involves someone from Jonathan’s past reappearing, and, of course, needing a murder mystery solved.

The second new face is Carla Borrego (Julia Sawalha). Carla gets her introduction in the Satan's Chimney episode. Unlike Gideon, she would become a regular, replacing Caroline Quentin’s Maddie Magellan in Series 4. There's always been an element of the macabre lingering in the background of the show, but this episode turns it up a notch higher.

Both episodes are unequivocally suited to the JC format but have two different approaches: one has the usual 'inside a locked room' scenario, while the other is outside in the open, which doesn't make the deductions any easier.

2 episodes, approx 90 + 120 minutes, respectively.

4 murky waters out of 5

Jonathan Creek: Series I, II and III (1997 - 2000)

Jonathan Creek is a mystery/detective series, but Jonathan (Alan Davies) isn't an actual detective. He designs magic tricks for a stage magician. His knowledge of stage magic, or more precisely his understanding of what it takes to create the perfect illusion, enables him to take available clues from a crime scene and work backwards. He assesses the impossible without ever dismissing the implausible. The show is less of a traditional 'whodunnit', and more of a 'howdunnit' that keeps you guessing right up to the inevitable reveal.

It's not all death and murder, though. There's a lot of comedy, too; much of which revolves around Jonathan's relationship with his partner in crime-solving, the female writer/investigative reporter, Maddie Magellan (Caroline Quentin). He's the reserved, quiet sort, whereas she's the bold, outgoing kind. As the show progresses their relationship deepens and they spend more and more time under each other's feet, and on each other's couch.

An ongoing sexual tension would be too much of a cliché. Instead, Maddie just wants to bang Jonathan to within an inch of his nerdy life. It's not because he's dashingly handsome - it's because she likes a challenge, too.

I'm not suggesting the show is free of clichés, because it isn't. The murder in a locked room scenario pops up often and becomes a kind of running joke. It even relies on a few others of its own making.

Every great detective needs an equally great theme tune to set the mood for what follows. Creek doesn't disappoint. It uses a slightly more fickle arrangement of French composer Camille Saint-Saëns' wonderful Danse Macabre. It's the perfect accompaniment to the show's clever but equally fatuous nature.

Stick around after the credits roll on the pilot for a scene that isn't important to the murder story but is relevant to something else.

S1: Pilot approx 90 mins + 5 episodes approx 60 mins each.

S2: 6 episodes, approx 50 mins each. | S3: 6 episodes, approx 50 mins each.

4½ slow drips out of 5

THE KILLING - Season Two [2012]

"Linden, we caught the bad guys."

"Really?  Who's that?"

AMC's under-the-radar crime drama The Killing comes back for a second season of moody lighting, rain, grey area characters, rain, slow-burning suspense, rain, gloomy realistic performances and did I mention rain?

After enraging viewers at the end of the first season by not revealing Rosie Larsen's murderer, showrunner Veena Sud promised that the end of this season would wrap everything up.  Being loosely based upon the Danish series Forbrydelsen and it's three separate narratives, Sud & co. used it only as a inspiration and trailed off into her own direction, making the killer unknown to fans of the original series.  

Just like the first year, season two takes its time unfolding the story and revealing character arcs at a hypnotizing pace that probably won't appeal to folks looking for their "wrapped up in 44 minutes" CSI fix.  The slow-burning reveals are worth it if you're a fan of patient methodical storytelling, as it comes to a powerful conclusion that will rip your heart out, stomp all over it and give it back with the hopes of the wounds making it only more calloused.  There's a few questionable plot threads that threaten to trail off but they all manage to meet up at the end, with the exception of a few character bits that are better left unanswered.  

As much of a critical darling The Killing is, it was never met with much in the way of viewers and was cancelled after this season with the the threat of never releasing it on DVD.   Fortunately loyal fans backlashed and the idiots at AMC opted to renew it for a third season with the promise of the case being wrapped up at the end of the year.  Still, the inevitable DVD release was given a shoddy "manufacture on demand" release exclusive to Amazon.com and that was only after the announcement of a third season.  

It's dark, tragic, honest and beautiful and sometimes that's the comforting place to be.

13 episodes.  44 minutes each.

Buyer's Guide:
Available in DVD box sets only as "manufacture on demand" sets exclusive to Amazon.com.  

4 monarch butterflies out of 5

Jonathan Creek: The Clue of the Savant's Thumb (2013)

I adore Jonathan Creek but circumstances caused me to miss a lot of the later episodes and the Christmas specials, so I've no idea how he met Joey Ross* (Sheridan Smith), but I'm glad he did. I like Sheridan, and she doesn't disappoint in the role. Her chemistry with Alan Davies is good, and her eagerness is only equalled by her sassiness.

Jonathan's life has changed. He's retired from the crime solving business but seems ill at ease in his new role, and awkward in his new clothes. I accepted the changes without much affront, but one thing bugged me: where the hell is the windmill? I'd never move out of a windmill, not for anyone!

When a dead body turns up and mysteriously disappears from a locked room on the same day, Jonathan's curiosity is piqued. How could he resist? The story and its sub-plots keep you guessing, with minor reveals being well-paced throughout. There's even a McGuffin that put a dirty big spanner in my deductions.

A handful of guest stars gave me the jollies: Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, and Joanna Lumley (who proves that she can still do drama better than most other 'comedy' actresses, she was superb).

The Beeb have said that viewing figures were higher than expected and consequently a new series has been planned for 2014. It's only going to have 3 episodes, but it's better than nothing. I'm already excited!

Running Time: 89 minutes.

4 actual thumbs out of 5

*I've since caught up on missed episodes, so that's no longer true. See Jonathan Creek: The Grinning Man (2009).

5ive Days to Midnight (2004)

Physicist and college tutor John T. Neumeyer (Timothy Hutton) finds a mysterious briefcase containing information that documents his death five days later, with some very convincing evidence to support the claim. The discovery starts him on a race against time to change the future and combat the consequences of fiddling with fate. Can he change it or is the physics of the future immutable?

It's an interesting premise for TV, with a decent production and some excellent casting. John's girlfriend Claudia (Kari Matchett), who reminded me of Laura Dern, adds further tension to an already strained situation. His young daughter Jesse (Gage Golightly) is equally well cast, she's believable and not at all irritating.

Structurally, it's split into five parts, one per day. The tension builds as it gets nearer the deadline, offering up a number of potential suspects that'll have the viewer guessing and second-guessing based on motives and beliefs. There are a few minor continuity errors but nothing to make you scream at the screen.

With all of the parts in the correct place it should've been a great series, but it had a problem, namely the finale. Some folks will find it exciting and accept the events as given, but a more discerning viewer might feel a little cheated and a little saddened that such a promising story was handled poorly at the end.

Five episodes approx 44 mins each (eps 1+2 are merged into one feature-length beginning). There's no logical reason why the word ‘5ive’ has a number in it.

3 friends with convenient jobs out of 5

John Doe (2002)

While my gifts provided answers for others, I still search for my own. 
My name is John Doe.

A man wakes up on an island off the coast of Seattle and stumbles into the ocean where he is picked up by Khmer fisherman. He is surprised to learn he speaks their language. He is equally surprised when a paramedic asks who he is and he can't answer, yet he can tell what day it is just by looking at the sun. His memories are gone and seem to have been replaced with every bit of knowable information as if he has a search engine inside his head. Taking the name John Doe, he uses this gift to his advantage by using his new knowledge of statistics to win horse races and invest in stocks. Though he is far from omniscient as the races prove by losing to circumstance occasionally. He comes across a police report about a missing girl that he can see in color which is unusual as he is colorblind. Thinking this has some sort of meaning, he helps the police in their investigation which will be one of many while searching for clues to his past life.

The show actually premiered the same day as Firefly which may or may not be related to it's fate though it certainly fared better since it actually got a full season that aired entirely, but was unceremoniously dumped after a huge cliffhanger ending adding to FOX's reputation as killers of good shows. It was a refreshing mix of police procedural, science fiction and drama. Prison Break's Dominic Purcell gives an enthusiastic performance supported by John Marshall Jones as Frank Hayes, a detective who first sees John's potential for crime solving, and Jayne Brook as Jamie Avery, a recently promoted lieutenant who is at first the most skeptical of John. Along with Sprague Grayden as a young art student who encourages John not to be so logically cold all the time and William Forsythe as Digger (don't ask), the bartender at John's favored bar who has a mysterious past of his own, they form John's support and social circle. 

The science fiction parts are the backbone of the story arc, but they are not always as compelling as just the regular crimes and the first half of the season in particular suffers from some technical issues like spotty audio dubbing and jarring reuse of previous footage into new scenes. Purcell also has a habit of talking like he is out of breath when something big is happening. Not always, but frequently. But it had great plots, both regular like kidnapping and murder to great sci-fi ones like remote viewing and immortality achieved through computers. An entertaining run even if a little comedically cheesy at times and it's weird mixing of genres gave it the same ability to confound executives that Firefly did. Only lasted longer I suppose because Dominic Purcell is prettier than Nathan Fillion? Who knows.

Buyer's Guide:

Not available for purchase anywhere as FOX doesn't see it as warranting the effort. Firefly wins in the long run, but all the episodes are available for free on Hulu.

4 Guys in black trench-coats are always assholes out of 5

THE KILLING - Season 1 [2011]

After the tremendous success of Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead it was quite apparent that the AMC network was on a winning streak.  Unfortunately with the triumphs of those three shows, a little murder mystery series snuck in through the backdoor and somehow got lost in all the hoopla.

The Killing, inspired by the Danish series Forbrydelsen, is a compelling crime drama that absorbs the viewer's interest into it ever so slowly with it’s moody atmosphere and subdued character arc reveals. 

Developed by former Cold Case writer Verea Sud, The Killing aims to stand apart from the legions and legions of other crime dramas littering the airwaves these days and it does so by leaning closer to a similar storytelling style as Twin Peaks.  Instead of wrapping up the mystery in one episode only to stumble into a whole new one the next week, The Killling follows a single case over the entire season. 

Following the murder of a Seattle high school girl Rosie Larsen, it shows how the case heavily affects three different plot lines and reveals how each character has a secret to hide.  It's absolutely heartbreaking, awkward and disturbing how well it's portrayed by the ensemble cast.

Beautifully shot, with Vancouver, Canada standing in for Seattle, The Killing makes the most of the rain, the clouds and of course: the dark.  With the screen engulfed in shadows and nary a color to brighten things up, with the exception of the dead girl’s clothes and room, it sometimes feels just a little too heavy for the average viewer.

It's slow pacing and story stretched out over the full season requires patience from the viewer and that ultimately killed it's ratings.  Which is a shame, because it's such a brilliantly structured series that never gets overly complicated or silly to ruin the mood.

13 episodes.  55 minutes each.

Episodes to see:

Watch them all.  They’re all part of a complete story that stays solid from start to finish.

Buyer’s Guide:
Available on iTunes & Amazon in Standard & High Defintion editions.
Available on DVD & Blu-ray on March 13, 2012.

4 cigarettes out of 5