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This BBC series began promisingly enough, with the title character, a somewhat humourless police officer, looking for the murderer of his colleague 'Stevie'. So far so good. Not terribly original but at least as solid starting point. Sadly, and despite good performances from the majority of the cast, it then descends further and further into the realms of implausibility.
River turns out to be a man haunted by visions from his past, principally of his murdered colleague, an excellent Nicola Walker, but also of assorted villains whom he's encountered. His current colleagues not only know of his obvious mental instability but seem quite happy to accept it, all that is except the boss, an in-out performance from Owen Teale. Teale wants River gone and refers him to the force's psychiatrist who turns out to be a most understanding and sympathetic girl; inevitably she comes down on River's side, seemingly finding his incredible behaviour nothing out of the ordinary for a police officer.
Episode by episode, the story becomes less believable. River's behaviour becomes more and more eccentric. A judge who just happens to be the husband of River's immediate superior (Lesley Manville) is implicated and things go from bad to worse. The murdered colleague is discovered to have been a rather less 'nice' person than River believed, or fantasized, and the final 20 minutes descend into something like a parody of 'The Singing Detective'.
For the overall performances, this would rate a decent score, as it would for the principal storyline, but the utter implausibility of a middle-aged police officer charging around the streets talking to himself, not to say assaulting passers by, makes it too daft for words.
score 5/10
john-70-690278 22 November 2015
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3359536/ |
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9-10-2020 06:40:08