Peaky Blinders: Series 5, Episode 1 (Spoiler Free Preview)

The following article was written for TheCustardTV.com and also features there.

There’s always scepticism when a series makes the move across the deceptively deep waters between BBC2 and BBC1. This isn’t family friendly fare such as The Great British Bake Off though so if there’s compromise it will lose its whole raison d’etre. That and Tommy would just shoot the judges and declare himself star baker. The good news is this – Peaky Blinders has lost none of its bravery. 

The first ten minutes chime out loudly in the vein of a discordant musical. Not many words are uttered as the series arc forms but when the guitars aren’t shimmering, they’re crashing into your very soul. The score by Anna Calvi is pitch perfect with the atmosphere throughout. It curates the darkness beautifully.

There are other noticeable changes at play too. Peaky Blinders has always been visually stunning but the game has been upped further if episode one is anything to go by. Anthony Byrne’s direction is the perfect contradiction of slick and edgy. The whole thing looks incredible.

A less explored area in the show is the humour because, frankly there’s never much to smile about. Here there are some genuinely laugh out loud moments. Two scenes with Arthur in particular are comedy gold. If this whole gypsy gangster thing doesn’t work out he’s always got an unlikely career touring the country’s Jongleurs venues as back up.

What of the storyline? Not much can be divulged but Tommy’s demons are stronger than ever and summed up with a powerful visual in a scene with his horse that says a thousand words. We also see his first, not at all tentative, steps in the halls of Westminster and it’s even more exciting than we could ever have expected. Cillian is in fierce form.

While most series that make it to a fifth run are on a downward curve, Peaky Blinders has offered up one of its strongest ever episodes. You are in for a treat, just not of the baked variety.

Trauma (ITV) Episode 1 Review

Perennial drama stalwarts John Simm and Adrian Lester come face to face in a battle of wills that’s more concerned with morality than anything else. It’s a hospital procedural without the technical lingo and west country accents. It’s a crime drama without any of the forensic detective work. Simm, who is omnipresent on the day Trauma airs because he’s also appearing in Collateral on BBC1 at the same time, plays Dan Bowker, a father of three down on his luck. On the same day he’s given notice of redundancy his son ends up in hospital after a knife attack. The cause of the crime isn’t the main issue here, it’s strongly implied a school friend did it as an act of girl related jealousy but the focus is placed on the cause of his death in hospital and the fallout from it.

As a panicked Dan comes to his son’s side in the hospital halls he’s alerted to trauma surgeon Jon Allerton’s (Lester) casual approach. He’s assured his son’s condition is not going to be fatal. In true TV fashion he breaks in (or rather walks in unchallenged) to the surgery room to witness the operation and finds himself further concerned by the man in charge of a loved one’s life. Of course, he needed to see this for the sake of the storyline but it is an overused cliche. Minutes later Dan and wife Susie, played by the brilliant but thus far underused Lyndsey Marshal, are told of his death and what follows is a battle of wills in a similar vein to last years Liar. It’s not like a character played by John Simm to distrust a Doctor is it?

Of course, we know Dan isn’t hiding anything but is he imagining something that isn’t there? Like he did when picturing his dead boy in the park? The harassment by Bowker is unnerving at times but it’s understandable given his situation. Simm plays the heartbreak  and bitterness well, never leaning into unsympathetic territory. Yet. He stalks Jon on the internet, he hangs around the school of his daughter and he makes the surgeon’s words come back to bite him. From little things like “I’ll be be back in five minutes” to the acceptance he had drinks on his birthday which, due to internet research we soon find out was the same night of the operation (Jon was called in on a night off). Will all this boiling resentment and bitterness result in Dan doing something incredibly stupid and/or dangerous?

Allerton is holding his cards close to his chest but as Dan spotted, his eyes are telling a different story entirely. the surgeon walks and talks with charm and confidence but guilt covers him like paint on a canvas and Lester shows the two sides of the canvas well. We’re never quite sure what he’s thinking. The powerful funeral scene is an excellent example of this. Bowker stands in front of everyone (including a certain medical professional) to express how angry he is, how he wants to hold someone responsible, how the loss of such a young life is a waste. Yet despite this, Jon approaches them afterwards with kind words before the accusations fired at him show worry behind those eyes.

It’s not clear what relevance Allerton’s family have in all this but they have much more screen time than Dan’s. In particular, daughter Alana’s relationship and work ambitions. As this is written by Mike Bartlett, a playwright and the man responsible for Doctor Foster, it’s likely the seeds have been planted with good reason. It’s a compelling opening that sets up plenty of intrigue. At times the music may be almost as intrusive as the offending knife but that’s a phase gritty dramas are going through. At least there weren’t any shots of people staring out to sea. 7/10

 

 

Peaky Blinders: Series 4, Episode 1 Review

“In the bleak midwinter…”

Family has always been the glue that binds the Shelbys together. Through all the dodgy dealings, murders and intense frowning, they stick like a stupid person’s tongue on a frozen surface. Series four commences with an unfamiliar feel. After last year’s shocking climax, they are all behind bars and set for the noose. All that is, bar Tommy, a man alone in his ivory tower. From there he manages to orchestrate their escape at the time it’s most needed. Their necks literally saved. Oh, and Thomas gets an OBE for his troubles. It’s a perfectly executed (forgive the pun) opening that’s both dark and surprisingly funny.

Fast forward a year and they are a family at stubborn loggerheads. Michael is snorting the business up his nose, John is shacked up with an increasingly unhinged Esme, while Arthur is living the simple life and talking to chickens. Meanwhile Polly has gone dark side and paces the house in a drug and drink induced fit of depression. Tommy is spending most of his time either drinking or having sexy times with ladies of the night. As ever, he’s clearly got the best deal.

There’s an interesting side story developing around the disparity of pay between men and women and in trade unionist Jessie Eden, Tommy looks set for a battle of wills and might just meet his match. Historically, Jessie led women out on unprecedented strikes and this is an arc that promises much. The crux of episode one though lies in reuniting the Shelbys and setting up the enemies of series four.

“I am emotional. I just don’t know what fucking emotion it is”

Ada has been in Boston, presumably visiting a bar where everybody knows her name but returns home for Christmas and calls in on her disbanded clan one by one. The truth is she should have stayed with Norm and Cliff because a series of letters reveal they have been “black handed” by the Sicilian Mafia. More specifically, a man called Luca Changretta who is seeking revenge. Proving that no matter how hard they try to escape their past it will haunt them to their dying days, which could be at any time given how this series is shaping up.

Believing in the motto ‘strength in numbers’, Tommy orders the clan to a crisis meeting but a fantastically gruesome showdown in the kitchen shows that his defences have already been breached. A sous chef with sinister intentions is soon served up with more blood than a raw steak.

“We’re going back Johnny… back to Small Heath”

The meeting is now a full on call to arms and as Tommy tries to contact everyone to speed up a reunion, the mafia are already serving revenge in the form of bullets. If only they had smart phones back then. It’s a shocking conclusion that proves nothing should be taken for granted.

It’s an indication that series four might take the prisoners but now they’re out, none of them are safe. In coming back home, Peaky Blinders might in turn be going back to basics. While the quality of the cinematography astounds more than ever, the acting is an extra level of mesmerising and the soundtrack still knowingly brilliant,  having the Blinders fight the world together as a dysfunctional force could make for the most compelling series to date. 10/10

Bang (S4C) – Episode 1 Review

Guns don’t kill people, actors do.

1995 was a great year wasn’t it? The height of Britpop, Ross and Rachel hadn’t been “on a break” yet.. those were the days. It wasn’t so good for the young boy we are introduced to in the first scene, a flashback which takes no prisoners. Showing off Bang’s intent from the get-go he witnesses his Dad getting shot in the tranquil setting of a welsh beach. Sounds painful. Zoom forward to 2017 and the boy is now a man.. because that’s how ageing works.

Sam (Jacob Ifan) is living with his Nan on a council estate where his Neighbours lack a little understanding and don’t have Harold Bishop blowing his trumpet either. Rhys is a loudmouth bully with a severe lack of respect for personal space and property. It could be argued his girlfriend Mel is the same. This girl next door eyes up Sam with sinister glares and has sex with her boyfriend knowing Sam is listening nearby. You don’t get that on Ramsay Street do you?

Gina (Catrin Stewart) is Sam’s much more outgoing sister who is more comfortable in her own skin as well as the police uniform. It’s not long before she is allowed in on the case where she found a dead body in the sea, the body of a man named Stevie Rose. Gina is also having a fling with her boss Carl but let’s hope that gets little airtime. We’ve a lot to learn about the relationship between the two siblings. Why he’s the down and she’s the up of the pairing’s beat and where is their mum?

In an unusual move for an S4C series the script flits between Welsh and English. It may take a few minutes to adjust but it very quickly feels incredibly natural even to untrained ears. Writer Roger Williams is simply bringing the reality of life in the area to screen but keep your subtitle button handy.

The story of Steff is the glue which ends up linking everything together. He commits the world’s worst armed robbery, removes his tag and is constantly fleeing from the police and it’s this running that proves his downfall when cracking his head on a rock he floats away downstream. Before his death we learn that’s he’s friends with Rhys and that the two of them are connected to the death, or certainly the disposing of Stevie Rose’s body. Sam heard every word. And every thrust but.. anyway, the point is he’s implicated.

The industry of Port Talbot manages to look both unexpectedly beautiful and threatening in equal measure. The brilliant direction from Philip John is darkly lit and lovingly shot, capturing the grey of the town and the green of the country. Bang’s ambience is a sense of overwhelming menace even when landscape wants to lull you into a false sense of calm. Even Steff’s sudden gruesome death took place in lush terrain fit for an episode of Countryfile.

Things then get worse for Sam. Not only is his elderly Nan hospitalised after a fall but Mel is staring at him again. This time at a beach. She seems friendlier when alone and hands him a gift to take home which turns out to be a gun. Talk about mixed signals. And so it ends as it begins – with gunshots. Sam has been the victim for twenty two years of what the weapon can do but now he has all the fire power in his hands. His tortured past and troubled present fuelling the adrenaline, he goes out and blasts the gun loudly into the night with a worrying smile on his face. How dark side will he go? How will Gina be dragged into this mess and what consequences will it have on her job? Who gets out alive? Whoever does will end up with PTSD either way. The series has started with a bang and it could be about to get killer.. 8/10

 

Safe House (Series 2, Episode 1 Review)

Not for the first time Christopher Eccleston has ditched a successful show after the first series and Safe House, which got an average of six million viewers a couple of years back, had to rewrite, relocate, recast and probably loads of other things beginning with the letters R E too. Essentially series two has the same DNA with different chromosomes. It’s difficult for yet another crime drama to find new twists to the genre and it kind of succeeds if you can forgive the cliches and fanciful leaps of imagination needed.

The opening abduction scenes are reminiscent of Scream without the gore as a tied up John Channing (Ashley Walters) watches on as his girlfriend Julie (Lynsey McLaren) is kidnapped before his eyes. When the news is out it triggers memories for Tom Brook (Stephen Moyer) a former detective and regeneration of Robert Carmichael. He believes that this new crime has a link to a former case of his, a case which imprisoned Jason Griffin, a man nicknamed ‘The Crow’ for reasons as yet unknown because he doesn’t have any wings. Or a beak. Alas, Tom believes that either he wasn’t working alone or they locked up the wrong guy and the killer is still out there. For Simon Duke, who looks destined to be another criminally small role for the wonderful Jason Watkins, the news also causes flashbacks but his experience is more personal due to losing his wife at the hands of The Crow nine years previous. Keeping up? Good, that’s the science bit over with.

Think Nordic Noir set in Albert square. The camera shots are slow and lingering lingering, the coastal setting is grey and bleak but the performances don’t quite fit the scenery. The main characters look like they’ve been airlifted in from a soap. Moyer’s constant frowning and unconvincing delivery grates but more concerning is Walter’s portrayal of a man whose girlfriend might be dead. He looks disinterested at best, completely bored at worst.

So to the cliches: Retired detective coming back to a case? Potential of copycat killings? The wrong person in prison? Jason Watkins not being given enough to work with? You can tick all the above off. While there aren’t any plot holes as yet, certain issues need to be raised. It’s curious why the police didn’t make a connection to The Crow until Tom turned up. Or why the family wasn’t given immediate protection and why they were then handed over to someone with a deep connection and history to the case. It’s not bad by any stretch but perhaps the show is perfectly named. For a basic premise that is a little different to the norm it still feels generic, still feels like it’s in a comfort zone. If the twists are good then the game can be raised.

As we know full well, this Safe House will be about as safe a sand castle at full tide. Thankfully there’s plenty of intriguing questions this very slow paced opener has set up. What incoming danger awaits the residents of the house? Will Julie survive? Is Simon free from all this? Is the wrong man in prison? Whether or not they’ll be executed well is what this programme now rests on. Whether or not anyone will be executed at all is another matter. 5/10