Sunday 10 March 2013

Shetland - BBC TV review

Shetland,the new BBC TV crime drama which started tonight, is an adaptation of the work of one of my oldest friends in crime writing, Ann Cleeves, so it was a particular pleasure to watch its transition to the small screen. When I first learned that the role of Jimmy Perez, the cop who takes centre stage, was to be played by Douglas Henshall, I was rather surprised, as he does not look anything like my idea of Jimmy, whose heritage is Spanish. But he's a very good actor, as his performances in very different roles in The Secret of Crickley Hall and Doors Open illustrate, and he makes a very likeable Jimmy.

Another interesting aspect of the adaptation is that the books began with the award-winning Raven Black, whereas the first story to be televised was the final novel of what was originally planned to be a quartet, Red Bones. For plot reasons, there have therefore had to be significant changes to the presentation of Jimmy's personal life, but I felt that, in this first episode, these worked pretty well. The story involves a murder close to an archaeological dig, which as a number of writers, including Ann, Agatha Christie and Kate Ellis have shown, is an eminently suitable setting for a murder mystery.

A great strength of the books, of course, is the location. I'm tempted to dub Ann the Queen of Rural Crime, and Shetland really is a tremendous setting. She's often urged me to visit the place to see for myself and I'd certainly like to do that one of these days. In the meantime, I thought the programme presented Shetland very attractively, and (despite the body count) this show should do wonders for the local tourist trade..

An immediate question is: how does this series compare to the ITV series of Ann's books about Vera Stanhope, the chaotic but appealing Geordie who is played by the admirable Brenda Blethyn? On the evidence of this first episode, I'm tempted to suggest that Shetland is likely to be even more successful, given that the setting is unfamiliar, fascinating and atmospheric - even more so than the North East countryside, where Vera is set. We'll see in due course, but in the meantime I look forward to watching the second and concluding episode of Red Bones..

7 comments:

bookwitch said...

It was enjoyable, but I could have used subtitles..! Beautiful scenery (I have been) and good jumpers.

The daylight hours were remarkable, for January.

Puzzle Doctor said...

Martin, as someone who's read the book that it's based on, do you recommend reading the book first or watching the adaptation?

Martin Edwards said...

Nice one, Bookwitch!
Puzzle Doctor, the book definitely in my opinion. I enjoyed the TV, as I have said, but the book is more powerful.

Ian R said...

As a family we lived in Shetland many years ago so was looking forward to this series.. But why does Henshall insist on calling the capital town Lerick. Unusual for the Beeb to let this sort of grating howler through. Maybe because the Tristrams in Salford have never heard of it either.

Kristopher said...

Thanks Martin. I can't wait until this adaptation airs over here in the states. The Shetland Series remains very dear to my heart in book form and I have no doubt that I will enjoy the tv format.

Anonymous said...

I visited Shetland many times over the years and then lived and worked there as a Nurse for a couple of years until 2008 and many of the older folk that I looked after and my partner at the time (a Shetlander born and bred) referred to Lerwick as "Lerick". I love the books, enjoyed the TV version, but did feel that there were a few too many Glaswegian accents in the TV version (it sounded a bit like River City and those in Scotland who have had the chance to watch that would probably agree thats not a great advert!) and in reality, Invernessian or Aberdonian accents would be more commonly heard there, mind you then it really would have needed subtitled!! ;-) Shetland is a place like no other and the books suit the atmosphere of the place generally. The author also pays great attention to detail like common surnames and the descriptions of various places is perfect, lovely to read about places you recognise! I too think the books are more powerful and the characters more in depth. Hope they film some more though, it's great to see the rest of Britain have a chance to even consider where it is!

christine said...

The pronunciation of Lerwick depends on what part of Shetland you're from, so I can only assume that the critical comments on that are from people who haven't moved around much within Shetland, even if they did live there for a while...