Well, I haven’t watched very much of note this week, apart from an episode of ‘Wire in the Blood’. This is the collective name for the dramatisation of Val McDermid’s novels featuring DCI Carol Jordan, psychologist Tony Hill and later, after Carol moves on, DC Paula McIntyre.
It was well-done, on the whole: well dramatised with lots of very close close-ups; so close that it felt as if you were getting right in the character’s face and almost inside their skin. The story was well told and gripping – and I couldn’t guess the denouement. So for an ITV drama it got good marks from me. I just couldn’t help wondering, though. Tony Hill is played by Robson Green (sounds like a TV series in itself) and whereas in the books, Hill is a secondary character, here he’s in almost every scene; doubting, questing, examining, torturing himself with fears, twisting and turning, facing the camera and turning away again: it could be the Tony Hill Show (or the Robson Green show) – and that’s not at all how I remember the books. Women are at the centre of McDermid’s books, and presumably by design; so to have this guy so totally taking over the show seemed like some sort of betrayal to me.
I also thought I caught a glimpse of Val McDermid herself at one point – just walking past as an extra- and I wondered whether she makes an appearance from time to time in these shows. Does anyone know?
Anyway, here’s the episode I watched:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0786901/plotsummary?ref_=tt_ov_pl
I also watched the first scene of Saving Private Ryan, a film I have never seen before. The initial scene is about 20 minutes long, filmed with a hand-held camera and gives a very strong impression of what a battlefield is like.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/
I’ll leave you with Mark’s weather forecast for the day: wind, rain and coastal thudding.
So there you are.
Kirk out
PS the title of today’s post is of course a reference to that great Almodovar film, ‘Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.’ I saw Almodovar once, in a cinema in Madrid. He came in wearing his trademark yellow blazer and the staff rushed forward to usher him in through the barrier.
Sarada Gray 