The Shadow Line.

I've taken one for the team here.

I thought I'd give the BBC's new seven part thriller The Shadow Line a watch. The Radio Times have raved about it, giving it their "prestigious" drama of the week award. And it's a master class in style over substance. About ten minutes of plot crammed into sixty minutes of television. The rest was just wandering around and characters muttering half sentences. A drug baron and his nephew are mysteriously pardoned, the drug baron is murdered. Enter Jonah Gabriel the oh so enigmatic detective. I'm sure the name must mean something, but who cares. Add in some gangsters trying to find out who murdered their boss and you more or less have it.

The Shadow Line was described as a conspiracy thriller, which, is like calling something a psychological thriller. It just means nothing much will happen and you are branded stupid if you don't get it. Plus, as with most BBC dramas, the pace was slow and the script pretty leaden. I'm not sure if all the jokes were supposed to be duds, but, if so, then they succeeded. There was a press conference with some of the worst banter I've heard this side of " Two Pints of Lager". There is a strong cast, and in the main it is well acted. But you just get the feeling it's not going to add up to much.

Over