Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Nick Hendrix, Fiona Dolman, Annette Badland, Aran Bell. Sonita Hery, Cora Kirk, Robert Cavanah, Pal Aron, Nina Wadia, Tej Obano, Holly Aird, Kate Robbins, Cayvan Coates, Carly-Sophia Davies, Chelsea Mather.
Ignore the warnings of impending doom at your peril, scoff at the ones who prep for the eventual fall of humanity, for they have at least given thought to a future where survival is an immediacy, where every eventuality is considered and given credence; and while we must live for today, tomorrow must have at least some hope in a world willing to tear itself apart.
However, survival comes at a cost, and in the one that was left behind, whose future was stolen from them, resentment and hatred stirs in a heart willing to exact revenge.
Such is the seriousness of the structure of the Midsomer Murders’ tale The Blacktrees Prophecy, written by Jeff Povey, that in our current state of living we could find ourselves revisiting this scenario of escape many times over, indeed to anyone who grew up in the shadow of annihilation as the near inevitability of nuclear war loomed deeply such a scenario may have been played out in their minds a thousand times, and yet deep in the bunker revenge is enacted, the start of a series of murders of a mind twisted by the past.
A powerful tale that requires a sheer intelligence of persuasion by the cast and one that captures the fear and the acknowledgement of its position with frankness that speaks highly of Neil Dudgeon’s portrayal of Detective Chief Inspector John Barnaby and the guests such as the irreplaceable Kate Robbins, Nina Wadia, Holly Aird, and Cora Kirk in their relative characters and the secrets and lies they have held as the village jostles for position of being saved.
Perhaps we as a society have become too aware of the dangers that lurk, an almost convincing paranoia that has seeped into the cracks of our persona and well-being, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong, it doesn’t mean we should ignore our base feelings of flight or fight, and as with any prophecy that states disaster, it only has to be right once for it to be fulfilled.
Murder in the face of immediate destruction may seem futile, but revenge has no time limit, death doesn’t wait for the moment of collective insanity to strike.
Ian D. Hall