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(More customer reviews)As it appeared on broadcast television, at least, episodes of this series opened on a dark, moody and threatening looking Thames River flowing through London, under the famous bridges, while a sultry chick singer delivered "Cry Me a River." Now recently released on dvd, scuttlebutt says this production of Scottish Television Enterprises has lost the voice-over opening song. Licensing difficulties, I suppose. But this is a blow to me, and, perhaps to others: the English singer Mari Wilson's take of this famous song put me right in the mood for what followed.
At any rate, hunky Scottish actor John Hannah, whom I first noticed in an episode of Taggart,came to widespread public notice playing "Matthew"in "Four Weddings and a Funeral." Here he plays Dr. Ian Mc Callum, forensic pathologist based at St. Patricks Hospital in London's East End. The darkness of the Thames continues into the hospital, which always looks so dark and dusty, I wonder how the pathologists can see anything through their microscopes. As befits a Scot, Hannah's character, McCallum is painted in dark, morose tones too. At one point he and a friend take a stroll through London: it seems that, at almost every street, there has been a murder, and he has examined a body, and it is obvious that he carries all those violent deaths, and all those bodies, as a burden all his waking, and sleeping hours.Hannah, who was born to a large family in East Kilbride, Scotland, and began his working career as an electrician's apprentice, evidently has a gift for these dark law enforcement roles. He played Rebus in several made for tv episodes of the Ian Rankin books, until a corporate reorganization resulted in his replacement by another actor.
At any rate, Mc Callum's plots, too, are dark, but taut and spare: this is a well-written series. I call to mind an episode about a Jewish family that owns a bakery, and a really resonant one about illegal Brazilian immigrants being exposed to a mysterious fatal illness by the unlicensed English doctor they must consult for their medical needs. There's an excellent one in which a female coworker of McCallum's is murdered shortly after they've made love: he's in an uncomfortable, untenable position: doesn't want to admit he was the last to see her alive, but unable to prevent the investigation from going forward and snaring him at last. And there's a dandy one about a man who believes Mc Callum has injured him, trying to take revenge.
There's some of that Scottish wit too, of course. Guess you'd have to conclude that this television series fits into that school of British mysteries now known as tartan noir: darker, more violent, more bloody than the norm. But with some humor, too. At one point, McCallum, talking to a woman he's about to get to know better says, "Please, I'm Scottish. We don't even make eye contact until after we've had sex." Of course, there is sex, Hannah/Mc Callum is much too easy on the eyes to be going without, and almost every episode features a shot of Hannah's tasty tousch. Another good reason to check this series out.
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From deep within the morgue at St. Patrick's Hospital in London's East End, Dr. Iain McCallum (John Hannah) and Dr. Angela Moloney (Zara Turner, Sliding Doors) along with a team of brilliant pathologists and detectives help the dead tell their stories. Together, they painstakingly use their expertise to deduce how and why a life has ended – proving that while it may be too late to find a cure, it's never too late to solve the puzzle.
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