The theory applies to many things, of course, from restaurants in double-decker buses to TV shows. Rellik (BBC1) is a new crime thriller from brothers Harry and Jack Williams, a pair whose pedigree includes The Missing and One Of Us.
At this point my review would normally say what happened at the beginning of the first episode but I can’t, because the beginning was not the beginning.
That may, in fact, be the point of the whole thing (I hope it is), for at an early stage in the episode dogged detective DCI Gabriel Markham (Richard Dormer) delivered a mission statement to his colleague while they hunted the man they believed had committed seven murders and caused horrific burns to Markham’s face.
“If we could go back far enough… find the reasons why people do the things they do, maybe we wouldn’t spend so much time chasing our tails.”
His point became more relevant later (and earlier) as he shot dead Stephen Mills (Michael Shaeffer) and promptly began doubting he’d got the right man. Back at work too soon after his accident (that one again), Markham’s doubt was itself doubted by his colleagues who kept telling him to go home to rest.
It’s one of those thrillers that’s all about who knows what and we, having seen various sequences involving Mills, know that Gabriel is both right and wrong about him.
We also know Paul Rhys, whose icily well-spoken character fled the country as the hunt for Mills hit the news, rarely plays nice guys. Most importantly, we know that nothing from the Williams brothers is ever hogwash, or has been so far.
So I hope there’ll be some canny means by which the “find out where it started” theme dovetails beautifully with the way the story has been chopped into bird-sized crumbs and hops about from one time frame to another like a pigeon on an electrified fence. That couldn’t just be a flashy stunt, could it?
Harry and Jack can hardly lose, of course, not with one show on the BBC and another, Liar on ITV at the same time. The key to this one, for me, was not having read much about it before I watched it.
It started like a cosy ensemble drama with faces you recognised from many other shows coupling and decoupling very much, apparently, the order of the day.
Against an easy-watching coastal backdrop, English teacher Laura (Joanne Froggatt) finally got shut of childhood sweetheart Tom and let her medic sister set her up with dishy colleague Andrew (Ioan Gruffudd).
Laura already knew the sexy, widowed heart surgeon because his son is in her class and in TV dramas, teachers never think twice about dating the parents of their pupils (especially not sexy, widowed heart surgeon parents).
However, the atmosphere turned on a sixpence as Laura woke up groggy after her dream date, certain that Andrew had raped her.
As everyone took sides, plenty of others seemed to be shedding their skins as well from Laura’s “loyal” sister Katie (Zoë Tapper) to her policeman ex Tom (Warren Brown) and doubtless beyond.
I’m taking no sides myself yet but I know which channel I’ll be watching.
Daily Express :: TV and Radio Feed
