Inspector George Gently, Gently In The Cathedral. B.B.C. Television Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. September 16th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

Cast: Martin Shaw, Lee Ingleby, Kevin Whatley, Diana Quick, Ralf Brown, Morgan Watkins, Katie Anderson, Nigel Lindsay, Simon Hubbard, Tom Hutch.

The final episode of the series of Inspector George Gently is perhaps one that will have the thoughts of the last week kept firmly in the mind of its viewers as it dealt with the insidious and detestable world of police corruption.

Gently in the Cathedral was one of darkest episodes of this police drama and the echoes of the 1960’s and 1970’s police corruption uncovered by Sir Robert Mark was almost damning in the appraisal of the times.  What this particular season ending was the nature of how low those corrupted would go in making sure one of the most forthright policemen in Detective Inspector George Gently was convicted of crimes he never committed and the actor of choice to bring down Marin Shaw’s character.Kevin Whatley, one of the finest actors to come out of the north-east, doesn’t usually get to play the villain, the piece of work that you would cross the road to avoid and for that this made his appearance as the most corrupted policeman all the more riveting and mesmeric performances of this police drama. Martin Shaw has had a career of playing the respected, the man who is the most dependable and to watch him play against Kevin Whatley was magnificent. As the noose tightened around the life of this much loved Detective, the unravelling of his life was made even more palpable and utterly damning as the slick back haired Kevin Whatley, with the help of the very fine Ralf Brown, systematically took the detective down piece by brutal piece.

The programme opened with the death of newly married policeman and ended inside the once tranquil setting of Durham Cathedral with both Detective Bacchus and Detective Gently laying perhaps mortally wounded but with the knowledge that the cancerous growth in London’s Met Police had also been dealt with.

It was a shocking episode, graphically real and surprisingly brutal. Alongside Kevin Whatley’s superb portrayal as the corrupt policeman was Martin Shaw’s tremendous shattering performance as the hunted and framed man.

It is to be hoped that this excellent series may continue as it has been far and away the best thing on television on a Sunday night.

Ian D. Hall