Grim up North.

I have almost no time for TV dramas. You might say that’s a little harsh and you’d probably be right, but I just don’t go for them. The BBC is churning out a costume drama with every passing season, slowly etching the spirit of Dickens in our eyeballs in half hour episodes. However, to give credit where credit is due – I’m not the biggest Dickens fan either – the BBC does put a bit of time, money and effort into making their Nineteenth Century dream. On the opposite side of the drama spectrum, I give you; STV. Never before have I seen such complete swill on a television. As a channel, STV is not particularly far evolved from what I imagine Albanian television was like in its teething infant years. STV dramas tend to provide stories that are puddle sized in their depth, with delivery that is so ersatz that it leaves you wondering whether they’ll have a whip-a round at the end to pay for the transmission. I move now to channel 4, and Red Riding. There has been a positive smorgasbord of advertising to promote this trilogy, and I think for the first time in a while it has all come good for channel four. There are so many adverts for shock tactic documentaries and freak show style real life stories that I was prepared for disappointment.
Red Riding is set in 1970’s and 80’s Yorkshire and tells a story of police corruption through a tangled paranoid web of characters. The costumes, locations and sets were utterly outstanding, providing a general mood of grim mistrust that complemented the story to perfection. Whilst the scene setting worked, there were points – especially in the first episode – where it began to get a little laboured. It radiated aspirations to be on the big screen and this is always dangerous when brought to television; the TV is not the cinema. The faults I have tried to tweeze out here are in some respects a little trivial and I really did enjoy the whole thing. They created what I imagined 1970’s Yorkshire would have been like – Grim up North!
I have to apologise for this post as I have been a little short on time recently and planned on writing a little more but, there will be more.