The P. D. James mysteries are another that I remember well from my childhood. They were dark, atmospheric and in depth in it's subject - perfect for those who love to play amateur detective and try to fit the clues to make a solution. I was a big fan of the series, but it's astonishing that it managed to survive it's 15 year run after a surprisingly slow start with it's first mystery, Death of an Expert Witness in 1983.
It starts off intriguingly enough with the discovery of a body in a car - another victim of a serial killer known as the Backseat Strangler. But as evidence is bagged and sent to Hoggart's Laboratory, it soon becomes clear that it is less interested in the mysterious serial killings than the lives of the work colleagues of Hoggarts. Edwin Lorrimer (Geoffrey Palmer) believes he is a shoo in to take over as Head Scientist there, so he's not a happy bunny when new boy Maxim Howarth (Barry Foster) takes the job instead and proceeds to shake up the place when he arrives, along with his half sister Domenica (Meg Davies). Domenica stirs a sexual awakening in Lorrimer - and considering this is Geoffrey Palmer of As Time Goes By fame, please don't feel queasy reading this - and embarks on an affair with her. When she later callously breaks off the affair, Lorrimer becomes bitter and lashes out at his work colleagues. This includes neurotic and nervous trainee scientist Clifford Bradley (Andrew Ray), who he bullies mercilessly; Paul Middlesmass (Stephen Thorne), who he clashes with and who has never forgiven Lorrimer for the suicide of another trainee under his tutoredge; his cousin Angela Foley (a young Brenda Blethyn), who asks Lorrimer for a loan in order to stay at her home but instead ends up cut out from his will; and even pathologist Henry Kerrison (Ray Brooks) after he throws out Kerrison's ever so slightly disturbing childlike daughter Nell (a memorable Annabelle Lanyon). He even clashes with bullish (and somewhat dodgy) copper D. I. Doyle (Malcolm Terris), making him a very unpopular chappie indeed. So there is no surprise when Lorrimer is eventually murdered - but by eventually, I MEAN eventually!
The reviews seem to be split by those who think this is outstanding and those who find this incredibly dull. The truth is it is neither, but more somewhere in between. Over the course of it's 7 (yes, seven!) episodes it does become an absorbing and compelling mystery, but it has to be said that it takes a heck of a time to get there. When I first saw this in the ITV3 repeats it had been edited into 6 parts and even then I thought it slow to get going. But in it's original 7 episode format it takes until episode 3 before Lorrimer is murdered, given a sedative in his science laboratory with a wooden mallett. In Episode 1 the opening scene alone takes five minutes of Ray Brooks' character getting out of bed and going to work (I kid you not!). It's not as if up until that point it concerns itself with the Backseat Strangler, as that is soon forgotten as a mere side story as it details the Hoggarts staff love lives and turmoils. Indeed, it's a shame that it's put on the back burner, as one of P. D. James' strengths as a novellist is creating an atmosphere of fear and foreboding and that could of been used to enliven the early episodes of this. Another regret considering the amount of episodes this mystery has is the lack of screen time that Adam Dalgliesh's wife (Stacey Tendeter) has as the ill fated Jean. The few scenes they have together are sweet, but when her demise comes - in childbirth, for those who queried how she dies - it's off screen, and with no funeral or anything. The next you see of Dalgliesh after his wife goes off in the ambulance is a month later in church, and left me feeling somewhat cheated. With all those episodes the makers could of built up the relationship with screen time so that we could of had a more emotional impact with her death. Instead it robs us of that moment of loss.
However, once Lorrimer is finally murdered in episode 3 it becomes absorbing as Dalgliesh and his little assistant Inspector Massingham (John Vine) investigate and discover a number of peculiarities in the case. Such as how the murderer got in - or out - when the security doors were locked; why Lorrimer's pages in his notebook were torn out, or why Mrs Bidwell the cleaner received a hoax phone call delaying her arrival to the laboratory? Other curios include Paul Middlemass' blood stained coat disappearing, tyre marks discovered outside the lab grounds and a figure spotted running down the path. As Dalgliesh methodically goes over the clues and questions the numerous suspects, it's this procedure that becomes fascinating as it gives us the clues and statements so that we too can try and figure it out. And because of it's multi episode format you are able to go into more depth with the characters to see who would be likely to be the killer - and why. Roy Marsden is wonderful as Dalgiesh and great at capturing our attention with those mesmerizing blue eyes, whether haunted in grief, compassionate at times or coldly clinical in scrutinizing the statements that the various suspects give. It's a multi layered performance that shows just what can be expressed just by using the eyes. He's an imposing figure, both in character and in stature (6'4" in real life) and as such he adds real authority to the role without having to raise his voice - a rarity in detective dramas.
The other performances range from the good to solid, to the more dubious and suspect. I suspect some of the criticisms in some of the reviews on here are levelled at Chloe Franks as Brenda Pridmore for her more 'yokel' accent and performance. Her acting may not be great here, but there's no harm in her character and certainly doesn't irritate. Her attempts to describe what a secretor is in a case involving a vicar to her parents while at the breakfast table is wonderfully amusing. One that did irritate was (surprisingly) Cyril Cusack's performance as Lorrimer's father, whose dodery and rambling narrative (during which he relays to Dalgliesh a peculiar phone call he received for his son the day he died) almost had me up the walls in frustration. Another who seemed a little lightweight was Andrew Ray as the neurotic Clifford Bradley, complete with a moustache that made him look like a human ferret. Considering his long established career stretching back to 1950, it is the inexperienced Sheridan Ball as his wife Sue who gives the more assured performance. Other stars like Valerie Testa and Stephen Thorne are decent, but are given little screen time compared to some of the other suspects. Even Annabelle Lanyon has fewer screen time than expected as the childlike but somewhat creepy Nell Kerrison, effectively sticking needles into a wax effigy of Lorrimer in one memorable scene.
Of the more notable performances, Geoffrey Palmer is memorable as the victim Edwin Lorrimer, full of thwarted ambitions, frustrations and seething anger as he slowly unravels. It's especially remarkable as he only appears in 3 episodes, but his impact is felt throughout. Indeed, what impresses is how each actor or actress make their own mark in different ways, from the understated Ray Brooks as Kerrison, to the more commanding and authorative Barry Foster as Maxim Howarth. Malcolm Terris deserves notice as the bombastic and suspicious D. I. Doyle. At times his character is repellent, but it's a memorable performance that also feels real for a certain sort of copper that existed back then. Meg Davies is also coldly contemptable as Domenica Howarth, but unfortunately I just couldn't warm to her. This is the second thing I've seen her in after Van Der Valk (with Barry Foster, coincidentally), and both times she's left me cold. I quite liked John Vine as Dalgliesh's chippy but amusing sidekick Inspector Massingham. But deserving most praise is Brenda Blethyn as Angela Foley, Lorrimer's cousin. Hers is a quiet, sweet character, but becomes considerably overwrought as the mystery progresses as she desperately seeks money to stay at the love nest she has established with her girlfriend Stella Mawson (Fiona Walker). Denied a loan by Lorrimer, she thinks things are looking up when he dies, only to discover that she's been cut out of his will. Her performance is superb, especially towards the end as her character's world just seems to be collapsing all around her and deserves all the plaudits thrown at her.
It also benefit from some genuinely eerie moments that so characterize P. D. James' novels. The moment when Lorrimer's body is discovered by Brenda Pridmore in the laboratory is notable enough. But it's the chapel scene in episode 6 when the same said unfortunate Brenda has to walk through the cemetary when her bike tyres are slashed that is the most eerily effective. The whole scene, including the discovery of a hanging woman from a bell rope, plus the lengthy efforts of Dalgliesh and Massingham to revive her (and Brenda) mark as one of it's high points (no pun intended). And it's end episode is dramatically memorable as it is surprisingly touching. This first P. D. James mystery does have it's problems - such as it's slow pace in getting to the main murder, plus a couple of points that it never really satsifactorily explains, such as the slashed tyres on Brenda's bikes (who did it?) or the Backseat Strangler, which is reduced to a sub-plot. But once it does get going it becomes an absorbing watch with a couple of memorable moments. And this mystery does have it's heart in the right place - that of everyday people's lives and emotions, the seemingly insignificant problems that in this case all combine to create one tragic sequence of events after another, just because one one person's decision. It's as much a human drama as a mystery, and for that it deserves some credit.
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