Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Martin Shaw, Lee Ingleby, Lisa McGrillis, Robert Pugh, Ruth Gemmell, Steve Evets, Charlie Richmond, Matt Stokoe, Alan Renwick, Christopher Connel, Finn Burridge, Liam Caffry, Paul Dingwall, Michael Hodgson, Samantha Phyllis Morris, Fiona Boylan, Caroline O’Neil, Don Gallagher, Simon Hubbard, Cheryl Dixon.
It may be hard to define what makes the Inspector George Gently series such compelling television. After all, there is an abundance of police dramas constantly on the go, like a merry go round that just keeps getting fuller and faster as more channels are added and then you go and include the Nordic Noir series, the United States imports which these days are too clean, too clinical and far too science based as if they are an advertisement for a thousand microscopes rather than the actual detective, the dogged gumshoe approach.
George Gently stands out though for pretty much the same reason as the Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffatt retelling of Sherlock, not only is it about the case but the way the two main characters play off each other. The gritty almost bleak world of 1960s Northumbria and Durham cannot be compared too closely to the slick and intelligence based world of Sherlock but when you get right down to the root of it all, the main characters are ones that you would want on your side in a fight.
Gently Between the Lines sees the return of George Gently and Sargent John Bacchus after the nation was left wondering what happened to them after being shot and left for dead in Durham Cathedral. Six months on in their time, both men have recovered but the scars run pretty deep, their core beliefs, especially in John Bacchus, has been shaken and nerves are so frayed that they could come apart at any moment.
As Inspector Gently, the returning Martin Shaw, who even now should be highly commended for the truth he brings to each role, is called in to investigate the death of a young man in police custody, he uncovers lies and deceit in the Newcastle station house and the truth behind the slum clearances of Newcastle’s bright future.
He also has the prospect of losing John Bacchus, the fantastic Lee Ingleby, to the way of the police dustbin. This near father/son relationship is one of the most fascinating parts of the programme and in the way they are able to uncover the truth together, and with the help of W.P.C. Coles (Lisa McGrillis), the police drama which is perhaps only matched by Morse in recent times makes a welcome return to television.
Any programme must be seen as rather special when it can involve the poetry of the great Roger McGough and in the young boy’s eulogy to the fallen loner, Let Me Die A Young Man’s Death was perhaps the most wonderful of touches in an episode that showed the greater need for transparency even in today’s modern world.
Ian D. Hall