Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Tala Gouveia, Jason Watkins, Rob Brydon, Martin Kemp, Cathy Tyson, Rupert Graves, Patsy Kensit, Victor Oshin, Femi Nylander, Vince Leigh, Jack Riddiford, Lily Sacofsky, James Murray, Jonty Stephens, Mia McCallum.
How your opinion can change is to be thought of as a sign of growth, of maturity, or maybe it is just that in the first introduction the feeling of being underwhelmed couldn’t be ignored on the other side that they upped their game to make sure you understood perfectly well that they took the criticism on board and became more in tune with the image they wanted to portray.
It is rare for a television series to change so dramatically that you can favour it with a second chance, the expectation perhaps being so low that in some cases it could not fail to improve, but to go beyond, to stick its neck out and become intriguing, that is the stuff of myth and fiction.
The second series of McDonald & Dodds though seems to have got over its first season introduction and more than jittery start and in the tale of The Man Who Wasn’t There, the agony of the characters foibles, and in some cases sheer unlikability, has been fleshed out and given a softer, more motivating appearance and stance. It takes a lot on behalf of the viewer to get over the initial confrontation of a show that doesn’t sit well in the schedule it is pushed into, but perseverance is a quality to believe in, and in this particular episode, all may not be forgotten, but is surely forgiven.
It is arguably down to the story line has been written with a dark reminder of the ego and excess, the breakdown in what was considered wrong about the 1980s and its success at all costs approach that drives the action on, and when accompanied by a more up-beat Jason Watkins as D.S. Dodds, a more at home Tala Gouveia as DCI Lauren McDonald and the inclusion of a tantalising mystery fronted by Rupert Graves, Cathy Tyson and Rob Brydon, The Man Who Wasn’t There suddenly takes the series out of its Wednesday afternoon comfortable place in which the first two episodes should have belonged, and into the realm of the heavy hitter Sunday night graft.
A far finer adaption of the characters involved, a plot that asks more of the viewer, and a conclusion deserving of the armchair detective in full questioning mode. The Man Who Wasn’t There brings McDonald & Dodds in out of the cold.
Ian D. Hall