Last Night’s TV – Above Suspicion: The Red Dahlia
This latest La Plante offering is far superior to her last, in which we were introduced to the – at the time – intensely gullible and wet-behind-the-ears DC Anna Travis.
Back then, she was unconvincing and her storylines were somewhat ridiculous; and if they weren’t ridiculous, they were based on a form of reality which would be horrifyingly scary were it to be based on a real copper’s persona.
That said though, she’s still stupid enough to go to dinner with dodgy – and possible suspects – blokes. In this case, a Telegraph journalist; silly girl.
However, though Anna’s grown-up a bit, aside from being led by the ovaries it would seem, she’s not yet jaded and worn by The Job, unlike her boss and would-be lover DCI Langton. But at least she’s stopped ralphing up when she sees a corpse. And last night’s corpse, as is expected from La Plante adaptations, was a gruesome pièce de résistance for the special effects and make-up bods.
Louise Pennell, the victim, had been sawn very neatly in half and had been drained of blood. There were several other gory details but if you saw it, you don’t need me to fill in that diagram, and if you didn’t, you can watch it on ITV player.
The acting from all concerned was good if not brilliant, but for me, Ciaran Hinds stands out in the Above Suspicion series’ in that though he plays a cliché – grizzled, harassed, bothered by The Brass into arresting someone and generally a bad tempered git – he manages to make those clichés convincing. No mean feat I suspect.
And Kelly Reilly seems to be growing into the shoes that were brand new and a bit too big for her on her first outing. Her confidence in her role was clear to see and she seemed rather less stilted in last night’s episode. She’s no Helen Mirren as Tennison, but there, nobody could be.
As to the story itself, the premise of the plot is of course that the killer is copycatting the infamous Black Dahlia murder that shocked a then naïve Los Angeles in 1947, and I’ve noticed that La Plante has come in for a bit of flack for supposedly copycatting herself. However, I would argue that copycat murders do of course happen, so why not write a book about it and then have it adapted for telly?
Zillions of others have done it, so why have a pop at La Plante for doing so? Some reviewers accused her of simply rehashing the Black Dahlia story, but again, the originality is in the adaptation of a premise, and if we were to slate every writer who did that – for paper or screen – we’d all go nuclear every time a period drama of the bodice ripping variety was on-screen.
So in short, to those naysayers who’ve pointed the I’m-Telling finger at La Plante for the above, I’d say, you try writing something of the quality she does, and until you can, shut up.
Subscribe! Get our free email newsletter or subscribe by RSS
Loading ...
I really enjoyed La Plante’s other work – in particular the “Prime Suspect” series – and was looking forward to this production. However, I was extremely disappointed. Its fine to write about copy-cat killers, but to then have practically every element of the circumstances surrounding your story simply duplicating the original crime is lazy writing and dull for anyone who knows anything about the real case. From the disaffected flat mate, to the modelling aspirations, to the little suitcase….I know what will happen next, so frankly what is La Plante bringing to the table?
I was also highly amused to see a supposed group of dectectives standing around such a distinctively disfigured corpse and NOT immediately thinking of a link to this extremely well known case! Do you think that if a trail of dismembered prostitutes had turned up in Yorkshire, this group of “professional crime-fighters” would have been equally baffled as to what might be going on….
But of course, there had to be something for our amazing heroine to “discover”…
And sorry – but the extremely photogenic heroine is just dreadful. Storywise, she is not helped by seeming to have only one idea for solving crimes… “lets date any dodgy bloke hanging round on the edge of the investigation”… just like the last “Above Suspicion” storyline (yawn). Actingwise, she stomps around like a cross between a sulky teenager on an unwelcome job-placement and Bianca from Eastenders! She has absolutely no prescence, no gravitas, no sense of professionalism – and if she stand still too long, is so wooden she looks like a fire hazard!
In short I found this so predictable, so dull, so lazy, so one-dimensional, and so badly acted, that I’m not even bothering to watch any more.
[...] Unreality TV: Kelly Reilly seems to be growing into the shoes that were brand new and a bit too big for her on her first outing. Her confidence in her role was clear to see and she seemed rather less stilted in last night’s episode. [...]
I am a very broad minded 70-year-old but found the explicit and disgusting details of the way the victim was abused and tortured both unnecessary and disturbing.
Whilst Lynda La Plante is renouned for producing sensational murder plots, are such details as having a nipple removed and inserted into the anus and making the victim eat her own excrement in the interests of viewers as a whole?
I feel that the producers of the programme have gone far too far and will be complaining to the relevent authority.
I haven’t written a crime novel but still feel criticism of this work is warranted.
My favourite bit was the journalist and DC Travis discussing the letter from the killer to the newspaper.
The reporter says the letter mentions The Black Dahlia. Both look bemused. “What is that?”
Notwithstanding the fact that it’s an infamous murder and that journalists and, surely, murder detectives will be vaguely aware of it, the reporter says “I don’t know what it is.”
Only after the story has appeared in the paper and lord knows how long after they’ve seen the original letter do they Google “Black Dahlia”.
It’s as bad as in the first Above Suspicion when Travis points out a murder victim appearing on two photos on their crime wall. D’oh, never noticed that. What’s the point of putting them on the wall then?
I agree with the gratuitous violence criticism too. Though it’s not a gratuitous as the violence I felt like commiting on La Plante after watching this lazy tosh.
I did not see the first ‘Above Suspicion’ so I can’t comment,but having sat through this dirge over the last three nights I can only presume La Plante has a ‘contractual obligation’with ITV and was probably rushed to get it ready for Jan. Absolute rubbish.
loved it, can’t wait for next one!