My wife and I have recently made new friends from Aberdeen and they both talk like thaaat, ken, so putting aside my normal antipathy for home-grown Scottish productions, we thought we'd sample this new police procedural set in the Granite Harbour of the Granite City. The big twist here of course is that the central character David Lindo, is a visiting Military Police officer from Jamaica on some sort of international exchange scheme who over the opening credits, we see rocking up in his army duds into Aberdeen city centre. Although still classed as a policeman, the newbie is desperate to become a detective and sees this secondment as a stepping stone on the way to such a promotion.
Of course we've seen these fish-out-of-water, new-kid-on-the-block scenarios played out many times before and it's not long before both he and we as viewers encounter the old clichés of the newcomer's instinctive gung-ho approach not just turning up clues Aberdeen's finest has overlooked but also antagonising dismissive work-colleagues often by shooting from the hip and blundering headlong into situations.
His partner is an in-the-end supportive female detective who warms to him, rough edges and all and sure enough almost the second he arrives, they're partnered up to do the dogsbody tasks surrounding the murder of a heavyweight oil company director, although it's not long before the intrepid duo's inquiries make them the lead team on the force.
As ever, there are a number of possible suspects lined up for consideration but with a mixture of derring-do and Holmes-like sleuthing, you can bet that Lindo and co. Will solve the case.
My aforementioned aversion to Scottish dramatic productions is that they almost always strike me as shallow and ponderous with usually very mixed acting from the predominantly Scottish cast and I'm afraid I got the exact same vibe here. The writing too, just wasn't sharp enough, with too much explaining and not enough action. The dialogue likewise lacked crispness with the whole programme suffering from being pretty much one-paced, although for one thing, I did enjoy getting views of old Aberdeen, a place I've never actually visited.
I'm all for the BBC and STV taking their productions into different parts of the country but really feel they have to send a rocket up their writers to produce better plotting, more credible characters and indeed stronger acting than we get here.
Of course we've seen these fish-out-of-water, new-kid-on-the-block scenarios played out many times before and it's not long before both he and we as viewers encounter the old clichés of the newcomer's instinctive gung-ho approach not just turning up clues Aberdeen's finest has overlooked but also antagonising dismissive work-colleagues often by shooting from the hip and blundering headlong into situations.
His partner is an in-the-end supportive female detective who warms to him, rough edges and all and sure enough almost the second he arrives, they're partnered up to do the dogsbody tasks surrounding the murder of a heavyweight oil company director, although it's not long before the intrepid duo's inquiries make them the lead team on the force.
As ever, there are a number of possible suspects lined up for consideration but with a mixture of derring-do and Holmes-like sleuthing, you can bet that Lindo and co. Will solve the case.
My aforementioned aversion to Scottish dramatic productions is that they almost always strike me as shallow and ponderous with usually very mixed acting from the predominantly Scottish cast and I'm afraid I got the exact same vibe here. The writing too, just wasn't sharp enough, with too much explaining and not enough action. The dialogue likewise lacked crispness with the whole programme suffering from being pretty much one-paced, although for one thing, I did enjoy getting views of old Aberdeen, a place I've never actually visited.
I'm all for the BBC and STV taking their productions into different parts of the country but really feel they have to send a rocket up their writers to produce better plotting, more credible characters and indeed stronger acting than we get here.