Deadwater Fell****
Channel 4
WAS it the new Broadchurch? It had been punted as such and the two even shared a star in David Tennant. Sheesh, they might as well have called this Scottish set crime drama McBroadchurch.
Yet Daisy Coulam’s tale was at once superior to ITV’s awards magnet, while at the same time slightly frustrating.
It scored highly from the off in its depiction of those rarely glimpsed creatures in Scots crime drama, the middle classes. Viewers have been conditioned by Taggart and the evening news to think of crime as something that only happens in certain postcodes, but here was a Scotland of bifold doors, bespoke kitchens, and designer throws, none of them enough of a barrier to keep evil out.
In episode one we saw tragedy strike local GP Tom Kendrick (Tennant), his wife Kate (Anna Madeley) and their three young children. Only Tom was left alive. Was it a murder-suicide by mum, or murder by dad?
Coulam did not “do a Broadchurch” in having lots of twists and multiple suspects. One subplot aside, the story pretty much kept to the stark choice set out at the start.
To work out whodunnit we had to get to know Tom and Kate more through those closest to them: family friends Jess and Steve (Cush Jumbo, Matthew McNulty) and Tom’s mother Carol (Maureen Beattie). We were also aided by our old pal flashback, without which no thriller is these days complete.
Kate had been unhappy and drinking. Tom was controlling. Jess and Steve, undergoing IVF, had their own woes. Then there was Tom’s miserable mother. What was her beef?
Week by week, Coulam set about stripping away our preconceptions. Not having many big reveals, framing the drama as a why-dunnit rather that a whodunnit, was a risky strategy. With few shades of grey the drama felt overstretched at times, even though it was only four episodes.
But Coulam was ultimately going for something more daring than ending the story with a trial or in a police interview room. Suddenly we were back there, on the fateful night, to witness the banal horror of what had happened. That was more chilling than a more sensationalist ending would have been.
Tennant does “light” so well it can be easy to forget how outstanding he is on the dark side. There was an even sharper edge to him here, so much so one almost dreaded him entering a scene. Cush Jumbo and McNulty made a convincing pair (respect to the man from Manchester for an impeccable Scots accent), Anna Madeley kept her performance impressively low key, and why don’t casting directors use Maureen Beattie more? Like Tennant there are hidden depths there.
Channel 4 took a gamble with the scheduling of this one, Friday evening usually being a no go area for drama. I expect many would have watched on catch-up. It certainly wasn’t viewing to send a body towards a peaceful night’s sleep, and was all the more impressive, and haunting, for that.
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