This article was originally published in The Courier on Saturday 4th October 2014.
Peaky
Blinders: Thursday, BBC Two
24
Hours in Police Custody: Monday,
Channel 4
Paul
Whitelaw
Deliberately over-stylised and
luridly violent, the first series of Peaky Blinders was an
entertaining riot of period gangster mayhem. Granted, the dialogue
was often rather clunky, but I found I was willing to overlook its
flaws and go along for the ride. It was fun and propulsive, with just
enough depth to justify its self-conscious swagger.
Can it keep that momentum going over
a second series? On the evidence of last week's return, I'm not
entirely certain. It may sound odd to describe a drama full of
choreographed violence and cold-blooded murder as curiously muted,
especially one which began with a pub being blown to pieces, but
episode one felt rather hollow and lethargic. Critics immune to the
charms of Peaky Blinders have always accused it of being mere
style over substance, but in this case the accusations felt valid.
As we returned to 1920s Birmingham,
which in the hands of writer Steven Knight is depicted as a hellish
furnace at the lawless ends of the Earth, implacable gangster Thomas
Shelby was firmly ensconced in his role as the city's leading crime
kingpin. His plans for an expansion to London dominated proceedings,
to the extent that it appeared to be the only major plot development.
Knight spent too long putting his pieces in place at the expense of
moving the action forward.
The lengthy, slow-motion scene in
which Thomas assassinated someone on behalf of his Irish associates
was pure padding, seemingly included because the director couldn't
resist matching his eye-catching visuals to the music of Johnny Cash.
While the show's anachronistic blues/country score is a vital part of
its grungy western aesthetic, scenes such as this make it feel like
an elongated music video. The clanking, igneous, soot-drenched
production design is stunning, but it should never dominate as much
as it did here.
Apparently sculpted entirely from
glass, Cillian Murphy continues to thrive on pure charisma as Thomas,
but I did find myself impatiently waiting for the much-publicised
arrival of the great Tom Hardy. Alas, he was nowhere to be found in
episode one, which simply added to the sense of anticlimax.
This stodgy curtain-opener was
hopefully just a fleeting wobble, before it returns to form next
week. Peaky Blinders is one of our most distinctive TV dramas,
so it would be a shame if it ran out of gas so soon.
Produced by the team behind the
justly lauded 24 Hours in A&E, 24 Hours in Police
Custody is a similarly engrossing observational documentary
following the Bedfordshire police force as they attempt to charge
their suspects within hours of arrest.
Without an ounce of dubious
contrivance, it succeeds in providing the police with the sort of
positive publicity they're currently in dire need of. The officers
involved came across as decent human beings doggedly in pursuit of
justice. Episode one's unlikely star was DC Martin Hart, whose
affable approach to interrogation was honed during his time spent
working as a holiday rep. Here was an ordinary copper, simply doing
his job to the best of his abilities.
His prolonged efforts to charge a man
suspected of conspiracy to murder resulted in a simple yet effective
hour of television, steeped in tension and humour. There was more
drama in the minutiae of this process than you'd find in most
scripted police procedurals. Thoughtful, enlightening stuff.
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