Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Jack Lowden, Gavin Mitchell, James Boal, Robert Jack, Helen McKay, Nicola Roy, Maureen Carr, Kyle Gardiner, Ron Donachie, Stuart McQuarrie, Simon Donaldson, Andy Clark, Jimmy Chisholm, James Rottger, Lucianne McEvoy, Paul Young.
Even after two centuries, the names Burke and Hare are enough to spark dialogue and conversation in the darkest corners of any Edinburgh public house; it is in the collective DNA of the city, the fear that persists as the cold rain hits the streets of the narrow old town that human life is considered so cheap that murder for profit is an acceptable thought within the criminal fraternity, and those to whom we entrust our end of life care to, almost always those of a professional class.
Jack Lowden leads the narration in Limelight: An Eye For A Killing – the dramatic investigation into the nightmarish tale of Burke and Hare, and the forgotten man in the deadly activity, that of the formerly respected but ultimately proven by history to be one to whom the dead were nothing more than surgical and anatomy playthings, a furthering of a science which sank to the level of depravity in much the same way that Doctor Mengler connected with in the Death Camps during World War Two.
The true story of greed inspired murder, a classic example of allowing corruption in high places to influence the working class in to doing their ‘dirty work’, is not only of the nefarious activity and murder of a number of Edinburgh citizens, but to that which rocked the world of the elite of the city, as Doctor Robert Knox was named and then shamed for his role in the unholy affair.
Separating fact from the fiction that stalked the streets of Scotland’s capital, Jack Lowden’s imperious work is more gruesome and disturbing to that which many mistakenly believe was the work of body snatchers, but the truth of it all is highlighted by the fact that in terms of justice, all bar one of the victims is given their time in death to convict the monsters in Edinburgh’s underbelly.
The series reveals an Edinburgh that was at the time facing its own schism, a city separated by its past and its opulent future, a twin maybe, but one that was ultimately disfigured as the poor were treated as nothing more than walking cadavers in waiting for the knife of Burke and Hare, and the tools of the trade of the flamboyant former army surgeon, Robert Knox.
Today’s Edinburgh maybe a friendlier and consuming city, but the fear underneath remains, and as the evidence, delivered by a dedicated troop of actors providing the voices of the accused and those that met their untimely end, mounts, as the drama escalates, so, like London, the city is remembered at times more for its most infamous serial killers than it is for its enlightenment.
A scintillating audio drama/part narrated in judgement style, Limelight: An Eye For A Killing is a reminder that history’s darkest secrets somehow find themselves often the current talk and conversation, for nobody forgets those who seek to be addressed in the limelight for the act of murder.
Ian D. Hall