IS ROBSON GREEN WEARING OUT?

From Val McDermid’s e-newsletter:

“I’m very sad to report that ITV have refused to recommission WIRE IN THE BLOOD for a seventh series. All of us involved with the show have been in a state of shock since we got the news. It’s inexplicable to me. In spite of the fact that ITV have never given us a regular slot, the show has gone out at varying times of the year, on different nights and in at least three formats in terms of length we have consistently delivered some of the highest audiences for any ITV drama. We have consistently been the most-watched show on any channel. According to official ratings figures, well over 90% of our viewers regard the show as an appointment with the TV: ie, they don’t just watch because there’s nothing else on. The show is seen on 120 channels world-wide. It’s won awards, it’s just been shortlisted for an Edgar by the Mystery Writers of America. Year after year, Coastal have produced fantastic quality on a shoestring budget that has diminished in real terms. They’ve brought millions of pounds into the economy of the North East of England and because they’re the only company in the region producing network drama, this axing means a loss of skills and a loss of voice that goes way beyond our personal interests.”

I’ve just finished watching four episodes of “Wire in the Blood” from the fifth season and am not much surprised by the non-renewal. Of the four shows, two were atypical and two were more familiar, meaning that they stuck to the main character being a little eccentric and maybe functionally autistic, an “Aspie,” which was the original concept. He’s a profiler rather than a detective, and therefore inclined to have some sympathy for the perp, having seen from inside his or her head.

Writers of these shows, which are the length of standard movie, an hour and a half, work around a concept. So “The Names of Angels” is organized around failure, which triggers death. An incompetent man is killing beautiful upscale women, switching their identities around, framing men who fired him. At the same time a boy who was a patient of Robson Green’s character and who has been given a lot of therapy and a new identity, is unable to sustain his adjustment and dies, but not without making contact with “the only person I trust.” So this means that the profiler himself has failed. Doesn't it?

The sets are very high tech -- wall-sized TV screens so photos are “pulled” on from a computer, strip lighting in pockets, scaffolding around the workers, many bright red walls. For me, this diminishes the show. Indeed, Tony Hill ends up working with his usual squeaky fibertip on white board when he makes his lists and diagrams. He’s a pocket-protector kind of guy who carries a blue plastic bag instead of a briefcase.

The other typical show is also based on APA categories, this time multiple personality played off against sibling rivalry. The twist is that an old friend and hero of the profiler shows up and Tony Hill fails to recognize how much he has changed, not for the better. This program is given considerable spice by Michael Maloney playing Green’s old friend. Maloney is easily a match for Green in terms of intelligent acting.

The other two stories are more sensational. The first is about a little girl abducted, as well as a pedophile who likes the boy with whom she plays. For me it was spoiled by Simone Lahbib’s casting as the “Guv” who handles Tony Hill. It seems clear the writers were flirting with the idea of a romantic connection with Tony, which then pulls him more over towards being “normal” and hurts his uniqueness, which is the point. The second was about voodoo and, predictably, went to over-the-top special effects featuring flies and grisly murders buried in mud, all supervised by Lahbib in a skirt and four-inch heels.

In some of these episodes, Green had a little bleb in the corner of his mouth, the kind that might be the beginning of a cold sore, a sign of fatique. In fact, he looked a little worn all the way through. In the interviews at the beginning of this series, which half-hearted except Val’s, there was considerable talk about “this show tries to be as good as the American mysteries.” I’d have hoped any American show could be as good as BBC mysteries! They even shot an episode of Tony Hill in Texas, but I haven’t seen it. When it was Green’s turn to talk, he focused on the “family” aspect of the crew, how good it was to work with them, sounding a bit like goodbye.

I’m not sure the next step career-wise for Green is another series, esp. trying to do one in America. He might be going to movie-mode, which isn’t quite so arduous. So here’s my movie pitch, which would work for a series as well.

It’s the odd-couple, see, with Robson Green and Michael Mahoney. The gimmick is that Green is an English version of a “leather man” but so careless that his bike breaks down in awkward situations and also he's pretty “omni-sexual” so he ends up connecting with all sorts of people, maybe even getting sexy with a fat woman. (Eeeks! Better be in France or Italy.) Then Michael is the highly aesthetic neatnik, who does architectural criticism for a living and is an expert on Leonardo da Vinci.

The point of relationship is their interest in bondage. (“Mermaids Singing,” a Val McDermid script about torture is the one that made the series famous early on.) The Michael character is genius at creating sort of da Vinci contraptions meant to restrain someone for “torture.” (We see lots of careful drawings in the da Vinci style.) Green is supposed to be the torturer but he’s woefully inadequate, partly because he worries about hurting his partner, who constantly berates him that he’s not respecting the machinery or operating it properly. So just who is restraining whom here! The feel of the scripts should be funny, but sharp about human self-contradiction and just what limits ARE anyway.

This idea is so good that if I had an “intellectual property” lawyer, I’d mail it off immediately. I guarantee that if it were done properly, it would revive Robson’s career.

If you’re interested in Val McDermid’s career, consult her website. She’ll be touring in the US this spring.