It's always hard to review a real-life crime drama.

Shaun_of_the_Dude

Yes, it is - it is always hard and rightly so.

Martin Clunes heads up a cast of usual TV faces to paint a picture of the hunt for Levi Bellfield.

ITV have always produced solid dramas of this type and all the usual tropes are there - the pre-amble states that this is a dramatisation and some scenes and characters are fabricated in order to shortcut a number of ties within the plot.

This is fine and all, but at times, it feels as though the drama is serving the purposes of the Met and not he public. ITV isn't a public-owned broadcaster and therefore do not answer to the public; I'm not saying that this programme is intended to mask the many faults of the investigation, but something along those lines.

It appears to focus on the good things that the Met did and it also focuses on the SIO Colin Sutton. The plot and story is devised by the said officer and it is clearly stated that this is a result of his memoirs of the case.

I'm sure that his accounts are backed up by the Met, but in a case which was widely criticised and questioned, I question the wisdom in allowing the 'Guv' to devise this piece. Maybe there is an element of laziness on ITV's part, or some ulterior motive, either way, perhaps he's the best person to tell the story, perhaps he isn't - who knows?

The point that I'm trying to make is that it is mostly centered on the 'Guv' and while this is the norm nowadays, it kind of makes him out to be some kind of Sherlock Holmes.

But not only this, it drags the 'Guv's' personal life into the equation as if to give him some humanity and while he is, of course, human, the 15-20  minutes we are offered into the personal life of Sutton, could easily be better used on some of the more poignant points of the case.

The scenes with the wife also appear to give specific focus on how bureaucracy played its part in the whole investigation. Okay, that might be true, but does it really warrant a complete dramatic exposition on the matter?

Furthermore, in order to get a clear overview of the passing of time, it is important to keep an eye on the small time ticker that passes. The cretinous scum who committed these grotesque crimes went unnoticed for such a long time, and you can't help but ask - what took them so long? Well, they paint him as some kind of lucky and crafty serial killer who eluded capture; when in fact, it was down to incompetence and inter-force bureaucracy.

But this isn't what is infuriating - what is infuriating is that this drama did not focus on the complete mess that was the 'investigation' of Milly Dowler. Okay, it could be argued that this was not the focus of the programme and that ITV could only work with what they had.

But rather than commission a serial which focused on all the crimes (and the tragically misguided investigation into Milly's disappearance), ITV produced what looked like a rushed drama from a book (sorry, memoirs) written years after the fact.

I'm sorry, but ITV have took a shortcut here and told the wrong story - between his two ex's and Colin Sutton squabbling over who really caught him, there was a family who went through years of agony and suffering, only to have a serial created which focuses on the wrong story in this whole torrid affair.

Whoever commissioned this at ITV really should take a long hard look in the mirror and wobble their collective heads a bit.

Rather than create a half-baked drama on all the great things that the Police force (in general) did do right, perhaps create something that is critical and poignant in order to better serve the public viewers.

Furthermore, I would love to see what scenes were 'dramatic' and what scenes weren't, as there are one or two that are surely questionable.

The editing looks standard ITV M.O, the photography is as expected and the sound and music design are decent. The acting and direction are okay, if a little forced at the conflict points, but you can't fault the acting, it is quite good.

Give this one a miss - if you want entertainment, go for it; if you want to get pure facts and draw up your own conclusion, spend the three or so hours researching the cases from point-A to point-B.

How shockingly tired and same-old, same-old ITV drama's have become.

The source for this review is a video review I am producing for Youtube - feel free to search for it where you may give me your thoughts or if you would like to retort.

score 5/10

Shaun_of_the_Dude 11 January 2019

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw4576205/