We seem to have gone into the stupid era of television filmmaking - you know, when there's a big whoosh sound effect with edits. It's so overdone. A particular culprit is found in Multistorey (Ed Whitmore) which involves a multiple shooting from a car park - every flashback opens with a gun shot sound effect which is unnecessary and also confusing as actual gunshots are heard throughout.
Sean Pertwee is in prison for the shooting, which we feel he can't have done... Boyd's mate was one of the victims. Ed does one of his signature crazy Boyd moments in a scene where he works out witness Brendan Coyle didn't actually see the killer - then tells no one about this huge piece of news. (As it turns out this was probably a good move, but doesn't seem so at the time.)
The gun squad is headed by Robert Pugh and vixenish Kim Vathana, with a seemingly helpful Jason Hughes. Guy Henry is also in it also, thus reuniting him and Pugh from Sword of Honour. And Cliff Parisi, Shirley Anne Field. It's one of those ones that when it's over you feel it wasn't, on balance, particularly credible.
Then in Walking on Water, Boyd is tested by a 'Maria' who was a 'Mark', mixed up with a fishing family, three members of which have disappeared. A quick search of the Thames Estuary and the sunk boat and corpses are recovered, leading to sinister horror film sound effects and creepy dead people appearing - we don't need this sort of treatment at all, thank you. Homosexuality and cocaine reveal themselves as story points (Simon Mirren wrote it).
Boy, the tide comes in quickly around these parts. Boyd and Mel are only out there for about five minutes when the tide's come in and completely cuts them off.
Here we go again with over-sensitive BBC - iPlayer doesn't contain the next story, Breaking Glass, by Stephen Davis, which IMDB summarises as 'The CCS is alerted to sexual abuse of young boys in care homes. The team race to identify the murderer before his vengeful victims reach him.' Which seems pretty chicken shit of them.
And then, the Performance episodes - well in my mind, anyway - written by Stephen Davis and directed by Betsan Morris Evans, edited by Pamela Power, who I've never heard of but whose claims to fame would be from cutting The Duellists (1977) and The Hunger (1983). There's a really dizzying opening montage, also featuring an old car, which triggered the opening of Performance - and that was before I'd seen a very familiar style of property in Notting Hill. It's not 25 Powys Square, but it's very similar:
There's good humour amongst the team for a change and lots of great energy with interrupted lines all over the place. The story involves London crime gangs, an Obeah woman (Sharon D. Clarke - Ellis! - a committed performance) and Spence's missing Dad.
Richard McCabe is an entirely dodgy estate agent:
To keep the Performance theme going, there's also a sub-plot about a controversial film shot in 1967 called 'Projections' featuring gangland ultra-violence. 'The studio got so freaked out they took it off and re-cut it.' Exactly the fate of Roeg & Cammell's film. Also, a famous rock star is going to move into the house! Come on... That was Ken Russell as the director.
Long scene filmed for real on old London bus all adds to the resonance:
With Gina Bellman, Earl Cameron (Pool of London), Pat Bowie (above).
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