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Touching Evil -- Robson Green; anyone seen it?
Topic Started: Nov 25 2006, 08:13 PM (435 Views)
ekny
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In love with a prisoner
I'm poking around for a copy of the show on bittorrent & was wondering if people here who had seen it had any comments. I'm interested in it because Nicola Walker, who acted as 'Ruth' on Spooks (Ruth has to be one of the most touchingly three-dimensional characters I've seen on TV in ages) was on it, & had heard it was good. I've seen it refered to as 'infamous' & can't fathom why unless it's just another tv-related overstatement. Because it got cancelled after 1 season or...? Anyway, all comments welcome, just wondering if it was

meh/fairly-good or

whoa/really-pretty-darn-good or

hm/pretty-good-but-coulda-been-great-if-they-hadn't-cancelled-it kinda thang. :) ta, e


ps--also have a dim impression there were several 'sequels' although how there can be a sequel to a cancelled show is a bit obscure to me.
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ekny
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In love with a prisoner
Hm. Well, e, *I've* seen a few episodes of the show, and I have to say, it is pretty damn good. Same character as Tony, later, but this is the working-class model, rougher round the edges, different accent, more likely to beat a suspect to death than question them til they lose their minds. Still, Robson Green picks some of the best actors in the UK to work with, his choices in co-stars are consistently interesting. Nicola Walker's great, the plots are typical serial-killer stuff so far but that's alright, it feels very capable.

But episode three is why I came back to post to you. The first half was dreadfully slow & felt obvious (which made it feel even slower)--but the structure of this show took me a bit of getting used to: patience was definitely required. Regardless, the baddies were uninteresting and stupid and the first half played like an hour-long anti-drugs commercial. Then--like a lot of these episodes--it turned the corner with a vengeance. Who took center-stage in part 2 but Linda Henry. And man was she good. Ok, it's the same basic character as Yvonne, but even in a 20-minute part, she brought terrific range to the role, acted her socks off. Green played off her really well, knew enough to stand back, let her run with it.

If that isn't reason enough to dig up a copy & rewatch this particular episode (at least if you're a LH fan!), it's filmed on a set that looks uncannily like Larkhall: I guess it can't have been, since it was shot in '97 or '96 (aired in '97), but wow, almost identical (vertical struts supporting the stairwells but otherwise...).

The exterior is Oxford, no question.

Seeing Henry positioned in this alt-universe was very, very strange, & I found myself wondering if someone casting BG saw her & said Hey! <finger-snap>, I know who we need, you know, whosis! She was on Touching Evil, played a great con? Right, someone else replied, Linda Henry, we'll ring her agent straight away.

I wonder who'd know here, Filbertfox, mebbe...?
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coolbyrne
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(not) head bloody prefect
Justine Barber (Linda Henry): How'd you get that? (the scar on Creegan's forehead)
Creegan: A bullet.
Justine (laughs): Yeah, right. (To Susan): Is he havin' me on?
Susan: Nope.


Touching Evil had three "series", short as they may have been (those damn Brits!). Three episodes per "series". It gets even more interesting in terms of character development as the episodes go on, and we get layers and layers added to not only Creegan, but Susan and Mark as well. Events happen that shake the lives of all three characters, and it was one of the grittiest, best acted dramas I've seen. It's an interesting contrast for Robson Green, between Dave Creegan and Tony Hill. Particularly with Creegan, because before he took that role, he was known primarily as a light-weight, fluffy-type actor with not a lot of substance to his performances or the roles he chose. If I'm not mistaken, it was also one of the earliest projects he did for his own production company "Coastal Productions" (the inference being, now that he didn't fully have to follow the wishes of ITV or any other production company he was hired by). Not to say he hasn't done some light-weight stuff since ("Northern Lights", anyone?), but I wonder if he would have been given the nod to play a complex character like Tony Hill if he hadn't picked up the rights himself.

Anyway, I totally recommend "Touching Evil", both for Robson Green and for Nicola Walker. And what a small acting pool they've got over there! :lol: Robson Green/Nicola Walker (Touching Evil)- Nicola Walker/Hermione Norris (Spooks)- Hermione Norris/Robson Green (Wire in the Blood).





-coolbyrne
Interviewer: What is the most important lesson life has taught you?
Jorja Fox: You get what you settle for.


MandanaFC.com- The lighter side of a serious appreciation!
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ekny
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In love with a prisoner
Hi coolbyrne, thanks for the background info. I agree the pool seems incredibly small--either that or the shows I'm watching have mysterious overlap. ;) It used to be I'd get a show, think hm, maybe I'd seen 1 person in something before. Now, some shows it's like old home night--esp those first few Wire in the Bloods in S4, boy was that disorienting. But yeah, at least the pool has quality people in it, and definitely agree, this show's a keeper, each episode moves the personal investment in backstory ahead a few notches; Between the Lines waited until S2 to do that, & was (for me) much improved from that point on, it got a whole lot of extra depth once it gave the actors room to explore their characters more fully. I've just started S2 of Touching Evil, but fully expect it'll continue getting more interesting. --e
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