Murderland concluded

The third and final episode of ITV’s serial Murderland, by David Pirie, was much meatier than last week’s. We finally learned the explanation for the murder of a single mum and part-time prostitute Sally, whose daughter Carrie, years later, is determined to solve the mystery so that she can get on with the rest of her life.

As part of her detective work, Carrie decided to start working at Cleo’s, the massage parlour where her mother had plied her trade, and this was one of several plot developments that tested my ability to suspend disbelief. The behaviour of a number of shifty characters associated with Cleo’s verged on the improbable – but at least this enabled Carrie to discover what had happened.

The investigation of cold cases fascinates me – as you might expect from Hannah Scarlett’s work in the Lake District Mysteries – and Murderland had plenty going for it. Above all, the acting was first rate. Robbie Coltrane put in a superb performance as Hain the discredited detective who loved Sally, while Carrie past and present was splendidly portrayed by Bel Powley and Amanda Hale respectively.

Watchable though the story was, however, I felt that the detail of the plot didn’t live up to the potential of the basic premise. The suspects other than Hain (who was obviously innocent) were thinly characterised, and the behaviour of the culprit, when unmasked, seemed to me to be unconvincing. Even though his actions did allow for a poignant conclusion to the story, I struggled to believe that particular individual would have acted in the way he did, given how, over many years, he'd successfully got away with murder.

Murderland again

The second episode of the three-parter starring the excellent Robbie Coltrane has just been shown. In David Pirie’s crime drama, Coltrane plays Hain, a discredited yet appealing cop whose lover worked as a part-time prostitute and was found stabbed to death in her home not long after he’d paid her a visit.

The first episode showed events from the perspective of Carrie, the victim’s daughter. This time, the focus was on the perspective of Hain. Whilst the sequence of events from the past unfolded, we also saw Carrie, now grown up and searching the solution to the mystery before she commits to a new life, calling on Hain and trying to find out more.

In fact, she didn’t find out much. We learned a little more about other potential suspects, but forward movement in the story-line was limited. A number of the scenes we saw last week were repeated, and even though sometimes different camera angles were used, I felt that we went over too much old ground. It felt rather like padding, when I could have done with more story.

The idea of telling a murder story from different points of view is very appealing. It’s been done in plenty of novels, sometimes very cleverly, and I’d rather like to have a go at it myself one day. But the brilliance of the film Vantage Point, for instance, is certainly missing from the construction of Murderland. So far, at any rate. I will withhold final judgment until next week’s episode. The acting is very good, and the mystery-solving tug sufficient to entice me to tune in to find out whodunit.

Murderland

I caught up with the first episode of Murderland only 24 hours after it was first shown, which by my standards of TV viewing (I’m still waiting to watch my DVD of The Charmer, which dates back to the 80s) is pretty fast going. The attraction, of course, was Robbie Coltrane, that charismatic actor who was so brilliant in Cracker.

Murderland is very different from Cracker. It’s written by David Pirie, and it features Coltrane as a rough diamond of a cop called Hain. He was called in when a single mother who is also a prostitute was found murdered at home years ago. In this opening episode (it’s a three-part series) events were seen from the perspective of the victim’s lovely teenage daughter, brilliantly portrayed by Bel Powley, although there are glimpses of her in the present day – still tormented by her mother’s brutal death.

One suspect is a dodgy chap who was spotted by the daughter taking photographs (of her) outside her home, but Hain is also in the frame. It seems he was one of the victim’s clients. But can Robbie Coltrane really be a killer? The bloke is practically a national treasure.

I enjoyed this episode. The pace was not exactly frenetic, but the acting was good, and I was sufficiently gripped to want to find out more about the case. I’ll be watching again next week. Or shortly after next week…