Current State Of Obsessions

We are a household filled with obsessions. Aren't you? For me, Bike Girl, it's fantasising a life on the road with my bike and my dog. Have you met my dog?
 Mrs D "arranged" him for me. I'd thought I'd like one of those rangy Lurcher guys. But I think some Chow Chow got in to Dog's mix by the look of him. Whatever, he is a good-natured old boy.

So what are these current obsessions? Grey Doll still reads crime novels and has just reviewed "Fatal Crossing", a crime debut by Danish journalist turned crime writer Lone Theils for Euro Crime. You can read The Doll's review in this post on the Euro Crime blog.

The Doll's eyes are tired and rectangular from her evening TV-viewing as well. She and The Old Man did give up on multinational crime thriller The Team ... and she is beginning to think that the third series of French dirty-politics and PR-villainies series, Spin, has ... spun. But she is happy to see Hinterland back on the screen. It's a Welsh crime series set in almost total darkness and packed with monosyllabic conversations... except for the Welsh bits. Loves the photography though, does the Doll.
Other viewing she has recently enjoyed includes globe-trotting situation comedy Gap Year. And, Oh, how she misses the weekly slot filled with pillage and war, tattooed Danes, prissy Saxons and the muscular, jaw-clenched Uhtred (nee Osbert) of Bebbenburg in The Last Kingdom.

You may ask about The Old Man's obsessions too. But why ask? Didn't you know that in the UK we have a General Election coming up? Shouting at the telly and radio has gone to maximum decibels in this household. Grey Doll joins in and then Dog starts barking.  Then I have to rev up the bike and dream of faraway hills and open roads.

In Front Of The Telly - The Living And The Dead: River, The Bridge And The Last Kingdom

Yes this is how it is. I spend my life watching telly... when I am not writing posts for this blog. Some of my viewing has been a disappointment... some has been stupendous.

Let me say I do not know what has got up the nose of the telly writers on a certain national TV listings magazine when it comes to the detective series "River". (I know that this finished several weeks ago but I just had to say something about it.) I thought it was a fantastic show. It wasn't "depressing", it wasn't dreary, the lead actors were brilliant, subtle and wonderful (Yes, this includes Stellan Skarsgard) and pardon me for being a viewer that does not mind an "art house ending"... though I am not sure what such a thing is. True, I did lose The Old Man's company after a couple of episodes. Those who follow this blog will know that The Old Man can be challenged when it comes to telling one face from another (this is very variable... some times he sees resemblances that I have not spotted). Add factors such as flashback scenes and "hallucinations" and his brain do give up and he stomps off to do the washing up. Me, I loved the concept of a cop who chats to dead people. In fact I loved it all, acting, plot, photography....

However both The Old Man and I are present and swashing and buckling in front of "The Last Kingdom" - BBC's adaptation of Bernard Cornwell's historical novel series The Saxon Stories. (Well look there are Scandinavians in it, yes?) There are criticisms of the occasional chronological lapse in the prop department... and some reviewers have lashed out at the production as a whole. I did dread a cod CGI'd world of action, stereotypes and gore. But I got drawn into the plot and the action and...by the subtleties. Blimey I wouldn't want a night out with Alfred... I expected a man who burned the cakes to be much more fun... and as for his wife..... Thankfully and praise-worthily (such a word?) the CGI is largely reserved for the landscape. Which is understandable. 9th century England was much emptier than it is now. So...if it is possible to swash, buckle and be thoughtful then "The Last Kingdom" does it for me.

Meanwhile Scandi-Saturdays on BBC Four continue in style with the return of Swedish-Danish production "The Bridge" in its third season. Episodes 1 & 2 set it off to a good start but I suspect that lead character Saga's new Danish cop partner may prove a challenge to The Old Man again.... for I'm not sure who that Danish cop talks to at home or what realm they are in.

On a disappointed note... I am persisting with the second series of French "dead" and "living" drama "The Returned"... but I think it has lost its way... or me. There are an awful lot of scenes between characters involving silent stares and very little conversation. So, so disappointed. I loved the first series.

Thrillers - Talking To Dead People

So it's not just Mrs D that sits and chats with dead people (see previous post)...
The Old Man very obligingly joined me in watching the first episode of "River" on BBC ONE this week. (13th October).. in which DI John River, played (.... a bit inexplicably...) by the very excellent Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgard, chats to murder victims much to the alarm of his colleagues. Hang on, in some ways this sounds like a plausible plot for a slightly cheesy American cop show, but let me tell you they did this first episode really well.Original, convincingly uneasy, emotive and nicely photographed/filmed. If this continues I shall most certainly be watching the whole six episodes. (BBC do not let me down.) And... The Old Man survived this episode even though I thought he would be challenged... not by the concept... but by knowing when he was seeing "dead" people. It's complicated... but The Old Man doesn't always understand certain transitions and his hopeless-facial-recognition thing don't help.

Tonight there will be more dead people taking to live people on the telly. I look forward eagerly to sitting in front of the second series of French "undead" drama: The Returned on More Four (Fri 16th Oct) at 9 pm. The Old Man is more unsure of this one but I was hooked by the first series... dead child victims of a coach crash, one by one return to their families in a French Alpine village... followed by other people who died some years earlier. Far from being a horror-fest, the series explored the psychological impact of their return... but eventually, of course, things got a bit spookier. It's taken some time for The Returned to "Return" but now it has. Good.

Henning Mankell: 1948-2015

I am a determined fan of crime fiction.... of crime fiction in translation and... of course... of Scandinavian crime fiction. It is therefore a great sadness that Henning Mankell, creator of Swedish detective Kurt Wallander, has died at the age of 67.

Mankell, the reluctant crime writer, was my introduction to Scandinavian crime fiction. (Although to be strictly accurate, the first Nordic crime story I read... and it did knock me off my feet... was MISS SMILLA'S FEELING FOR SNOW by Danish writer Peter Hoeg. But Hoeg is not a crime writer, his books roam across a range of potential fiction genres.)

Mankell also wrote a wide range of books (fiction, plays, children's books) and stated that he only turned to crime so to speak as a means of writing about social issues. And I think this makes him one of the formative Scandinavian crime writers.... a school of crime fiction often marked by its strong roots in social and psychological issues rather than guns, shootin' and cliff-hanging suspense. Though, come to think of it, many Scandinavian crime writers do manage  the guns and suspense bit to good effect.

Henning Mankell gave me the luxury of a consistent series to follow and be rarely disappointed with when I discovered his books featuring a determined, middle-aged, policeman with less than winning ways.... Kurt Wallander. And not just me, judging by the evergreen success of the several film and television series based on a combination of this character and Mankell's plots. Wallander entered the heart of so many readers that quite a few found the final book of the series THE TROUBLED MAN hard to take.

I was writing a review of a "Wallander" novella, AN EVENT IN AUTUMN (Vintage, 2015), when the news broke that Mankell had died. Originally written for Dutch publication in 2004, the English translation has only just been published in paperback (hardback - last year). In it Mankell gives us a late-middle-aged Wallander, tired, looking back on his career but looking forward in his life... a house in the country and the company of a dog.... Of course the house he is thinking of buying turns out to have a surprise buried in the garden, a bony surprise. And so Wallander has another case to investigate. It's a short book but a beautifully written one and it comes with a final chapter in the form of an essay by Mankell on how Kurt Wallander came to be and his relationship with the character. For those left bereft by the loss of Kurt (with THE TROUBLED MAN) and of course by the death of Henning Mankell himself, I really recommend you search out this last short novella for a gentler good-bye.
You can read my full review of AN EVENT IN AUTUMN on the Euro Crime blog here.

Hard-Boiled Nightfall

A darkening room and the sound of two shots cracking out. In the blaze of light I see the stooped figure of The Old Man. He have flexed his knees, stood up and turned the light on. Supper time.
Watching "Beck" later.
Naturally.

Scandi-Crime Saturdays Are Back On BBC Four

Starting last Saturday (12th September) ... I am sitting back in me telly chair for a Scandinavian crime drama slot on BBC Four... the Swedish series "Beck". I can't work out from their schedule if we have only two feature-length episodes ... so maybe next Saturday is the last of these already.
"Beck" is drawn from the books of the pioneers of Swedish crime writing as we think of it - the duo Per Wahloo and Mai Sjowall who established their detective Martin Beck back in the 1960s and 1970s.

It has also been announced that we are getting a second series of "Arne Dahl", the Swedish telly series centred on the A-Unit or Intercrime police unit created by Swedish crime writer Arne Dahl. I shall look forward to these as well although, having just finished reading Dahl's "To The Top Of The Mountain", I want to emphasise that the books are definitely worth reading even if you have seen the telly series. Dahl's writing has a depth to the characters and a wry style that is greater than Series One of the telly version would have us believe, enjoyable though that version is.

There is also supposed to be a return of "The Bridge" with Season 3 minus Kim Bodnia, co-star of the first two series.

Criminal Viewing: "Witnesses" and "Ripper Street"

Alors! I am enjoying the exceedingly mysterious and dark French crime drama "Witnesses" currently showing in the UK on Channel 4.
We are in a coastal town in Northern France (pas de Paris) and someone is digging up freshly buried corpses and tableau-ing them in estate show houses. Is this a developers' macabre tiff? Or some act of revenge on the limping, cane-toting but appropriately named former detective - Paul Maisonneuve?  And... there is the reappearance of a serial killer who clearly has seen one too many Batman films judging by his killing maquillage. With chalk cliffs and sea mists... a chain-smoking female detective avec un peu de difficulté with her spouse... it is all very Gallic I do say. And I do enjoy it.

Not so The Old Man, I fear. He is nervous of French crime dramas, will not stay in the same room as "Spiral", so whilst he do keep me company watching "Witnesses"... he is getting grumpy. For I have made the mistake of pointing out that the actor who plays Paul Maisonneuve is known for comedy roles and had in fact played the French "Doc Martin" in their version of the Martin Clunes' series. The Old Man now complains to me that the actor is not very funny. I roll my eyes.
The Old Man have also complained that a scene on a ferry be shrouded in mist one minute and not... the next. I roll my eyes again and point out that he... who do live on the western tip of Cornwall... where nowhere is more than eight miles from the sea... should understand better the nature of sea mist. There one minute, gone the next... back again when it feels like it.... Alors... c'est le brouillard de mer, n'est pas?

Anyhoo. For sure The Old Man do not stay in the room whilst I do enjoy the return to terrestrial telly of "Ripper Street"... my steam-punk, fave of an almost-over-the-top Victorian crime series. Oh them baddies be so bad. I did bewail the BBC mad decision to axe it in a previous post but Amazon Prime did step in with filming and streaming and now BBC is showing the new series on terrestrial telly. Hope they paid a nice amount for it... and hope it remains a success with more to come.

Viewing "Spiral": The Old Man Dismayed

My enjoyment of Saturday Night crime thriller watching is back ....along with the excellent fifth season of the venerable French "cops and crims" flick Spiral, currently being shown on BBC Four. I am a great fan.

The Old Man, however, is unsure.
In the past he has refused on the grounds of the violence and graphic body damage. It had to be recorded - for me to watch at "another time". But he is bravely managing to watch this series, albeit remaining somewhat shocked. This time, by the (well-understood by "Spiral" fans) corruption, bribery, enticement, and general dobbing-in ..... on the part of the cops and lawyers... before we even get to the criminals themselves. (Not for nothing is the French title - "Engrenages" meaning "gears" .... otherwise translated by the English phrase... "wheels within wheels".)
But this shock has left The Old Man seated in front of the telly reverting more and more to Bunteresque phrases as the action and plot progresses:

"That's not very nice, is it."
"Huh?"
"Are lawyers supposed to do that? I don't like him."
"Mmmn"
"Oh, I say. That's not fair. Do you mean the police lied?"
"???"
"Ouch. Gosh. Yaroo... what a rotter."

OK. I exaggerate. But the poor man have not watched a dirty cop show for a very long time.... and it shows.

PS. Have you noticed the French version of junk-food eating in this series? The fraught and nervy cop, Laure Berthaud, crams food at her desk or in the car ....of course... she be a cop. But I swear it was a croque-monsieur I saw disappear into her jaws.... then a bit later an engaging slice of flan.... not to mention the lawyers treating themselves to morsels of delicious looking small cakes. Aaah.....Vive La Malbouffe Francais.

BBC4 "Crimes Of Passion" - How Was It For You?

BBC4's new Swedish crime series "Crimes of Passion" came to UK screens on Saturday (30th Aug). I be so looking forward to it for many reasons. I remember Ola Rapace as being good as "Stefan Lindman" in the first series of "Wallander". I've not been happy with BBC4's Saturday night reprise of a-a-all those Montalbanos and so have been waiting eagerly for something fresh.... and of course.... I do like a Scand-crime series.

In this first episode a group of academics and creative types arrive at their host's home on an idyllic Swedish island to celebrate Midsummer's Eve. Much drinking and smoking and flirting and angst-ing do go on. But come morning... a walk in the woods finds one of the group dead. This will be followed by the arrival of Homicide Inspector Christer Wijk (Rapace)..... and several more deaths.

I enjoyed the setting and retro cool of the whole thing but I am not sure it hits the spot for me. It is too Agatha Christie. Hers is not the kind of crime writing that I enjoy.... too much puzzle/plot and not enough character. But.... BIG BUT... many crime readers adore her and many crime writers of all sorts of genre's adore her also.
More disappointing is that there seemed to be some.... pointless suspense dangles... or rather at least one. Because what is it with all those shots through the shrubbery of the lady lead... accompanied by heavy breathing? It didn't seem to figure in the killings at all.
Or did I miss something?
I mean, The Old Man be getting restless and chatting quite a bit... And you see this is the fatal flaw in subtitled puzzle/plot crime. Take you eyes off the subtitles whilst the detective is explaining to the assembled guests who killed who and for why.... and you are sunk.

Oooh... Dr Who...

I did watch the Nooo Dr Whooo. 'Cos I never do grow up.
The Old Man disappeared to do the washing-up as he cannot cope with sci-fi facial rearrangements.

But this is a fine, steam-punk, first episode (Deep Breath) with Peter Capaldi in place as the regenerated time-hero.... confused, rattled, angry, but delighted to be Scottish. A Thames-bound dinosaur, murderous automata and the return of the Madam Vastra the Lizard Lady - I so enjoyed it all.




Now with a new Swedish crime series (Crimes of Passion) coming to BBC Four next Saturday (Aug 30th 2014). I shall be a happy Saturday night telly watcher again.

Grey Doll Gathers Her Criminal Telly Thoughts

So how have you got on with recent euro-telly crime dramas.... Particularly those for the BBC4 subtitled slot on Saturday nights? I am a bit disappointed that BBC4 has decided simply to re-broadcast "Inspector Montalbano" in that particular slot ... starting at "Numero Uno" of what is a lo-o-ong multi-series. I don't know how many they are planning to show.....
I have to say that it has not been one of my favourite series... although I know that the novels by Andrea Camilleri are much loved.

I did however enjoy the"Inspect De Luca"trilogy - set in Fascist Italy around World War 2 and based on the books by Carlo Lucarelli. Though it has to be said that it too featured a high incidence of luscious ladies falling out of their frocks.... Maybe a higher incidence than even Inspector Montalbano is privileged to witness.

I very much enjoyed the look and feel of  the Welsh series - "Hinterland". I am a sucker for "the look" ... and the photography and landscape are key in these films. The plots, acting and atmosphere aren't half bad either. Moody, dark stuff. Who knew Wales be Scandi-Noir?

Looking further back there was the Belgian thriller "Salamander" ... which I started by enjoying. It had pace, plot and paranoia... but towards the end it seemed to fall into the absurd. I was a bit disappointed there.

Meanwhile on BBC1... there was 1950s Irish-set "Quirke", based on the books by John Banham writing as Benjamin Black. With the first episode I got a bit distracted by the elaborately worked "period" setting and costume dressing. Moi, being so old, I kept staring around the rooms going "That lamp? Then? Surely not..." Instead of getting into the drama of the thing. But the second and third episodes had me... and I would look for more I think. I haven't read the books. I should, shouldn't I.

In The Dark...

Ooh-er, there we be this weekend... watching the ultimate phase of the excellently dark, sweary and blood-spattered "In Bruges" on the old DVD player... when the brilliant Brendon Gleeson makes an explosive point and POOF the lights go out!
Darkness  and powerlessness abounds. Followed by an early night, after listening to the transistor radio for an hour or so, then sprinting to catch the fading heat of the electric blanket.
We break out  next morning into the fully-powered nearest town to purchase a kettle! (Heating water in saucepans be a pain we do find.) Thanks be for the gas hob.
In all there be nearly 24 hours of powerlessness. Lots of torches and candles. But power is restored in time for this week's episodes of BBC4's latest subtitled thriller "Salamander". In fact Belgian-themed crime thrillers are sustained after a slight interruption.
How are you getting on with "Salamander"? I like it fine... another outsider/conspiracy fest. What a lot of bird song in the background. You noticed? And The Old Man be coping with it.... except when he thinks it is set in Denmark. He be very pleased it is in 45 minute episodes. But then he has to wriggle a lot.

Rest In Peace "Ripper Street"

Would you believe it. The rotters have done it to me again. BBC1 appear to have cancelled their Victorian-Almost-Steam-Punk crime series "Ripper Street".
.....Which I have been greatly enjoying for its acting, its design and its historico-social plots (I am OK with the The Elephant Man putting in an appearance for an episode or two.. I do like that.) Their research has been good as far as I can see. One episode a while ago involved dastardly bomb plots...
and Mrs D have been a reference librarian in her time and do know that their mentioned incident involving Irish Nationalists having blown up the prison in Clerkenwell be accurate.
All in all I thought everything about this series was improving with age.

Dang! Why do they cancel intelligent, absorbing, entertainment? No wonder I do watch foreign crime drama on BBC4. Cannot the BBC get its programming act together?
The latest news is that there is some hope of a co-producer bringing it back via online viewing....
but once again mainstream decision-making do poke my viewing choices into some "Cult/Weird Fringe" class that be "not good value for licence payers".
Moi? I do pay my licence fee... and I'm tired of running around the digital channels to find something watchable. OK call me a grouch. I go on record as not liking Talent-Celebrity-Singing-Dancing shows.... but I do like "Ripper Street". Boo-Hoo.

Saturday Night Borgen

Ooh... Saturday night treats on the telly last night....

(I do get away from the woes of the world with BBC's Dr Who 50th Anniversary Special ... What better way to dispel gloom than to contemplate the end of just about everything.)

Then The Old Man deigns to re-enter the room and it's time to get away from current depressing political shenanigans.... by settling down to watch the second batch of episodes of the final series of Danish tele-drama "Borgen".....

which be about............ politics.

My Weekend Creepy Telly Done Gone...

Alors! My dose of French creepiness (The Returned) do finish last week.
In short... The Returned have gone but the good news is that The Returned Are Returning!

The Old Man says enough is enough (for him) of zombies. He will not watch The Returned when they do return.

Il a perdu son courage pour de telles choses..... tant pis.

Sunday Night Is "Les Revenants" Night...

The Old Man still not be too sure about "The Returned" on Channel 4... but I think the suspense and unease is building nicely.

Soundtrack by Scottish band Mogwai is available on download or CD etc.
...... for just when you think it's all over!
(Found this snippet and links on that new Lumi thing.)

Mrs D Ponders Crime In Florence And "A Darkness Descending"

That Mrs D still be readin' her crime books. If ... like her... you like to travel in crime... and you like a little social, political content in your crime reading.... then she says you may well like to check out Christobel Kent's latest book featuring Florentine PI Sandro Cellini - "A Darkness Descending"  - a study of obsession and dirty dealings set against the backdrop of Florentine current popular politics. It seems that Sandro likes a quiet life but those nearest and dearest around him are determined to get him investigating deeper, or else they will .... and do.

You can read a review over on the Euro Crime website

PS.On the EuroCrime blog is a reminder and summary of the excellent Mark Lawson's series of short BBC Radio 4 programmes on foreign crime fiction "Foreign Bodies".
Like a heatwave struck idiot, Mrs D have forget to tune in. She may have to catch the Friday omnibus edition. Teach her to laze about in the sun.

Me? I still be riveted by Channel 4's "The Returned" on Sunday evenings. Even if The Old Man keeps asking me technical questions about zombies like I am some kind of expert. I keep explaining to him that this be a French series and as such there is nothing as inelegant as a piece of rotting flesh on a walking cadaver to be seen. Though.... Lena's back don't look too healthy... but she's supposed to be fully alive. Alors! Quel énigme, oui?

We Be Watching "BBC Cardiff Singer Of The World"

Anyhoo. We now be much more polite in our telly-watching at the moment and will be eyes down for the week for the broadcasting of the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World contest.

Indeed, these days are baby-boomer bums be so firmly attached to our telly-watching seats that the other evening The Old Man's favourite chair collapsed under the strain.

Never have so few been so panicked by events of so little consequence. But The Old Man do mend the chair in a trice. Who would have thought? Now I do sit in the mended one and The Old Man have taken over my habitual seating.
Why is that then?

 ...... Eyes down and feet up for the singing.

Euro-Telly: Wallander

OK. So perhaps those not used to my diet of crime-watching may say... How can you describe "Sidetracked" as "comfort food"?

Sorry, sorry, sorry.... I say that kind of thing and then people look at me as if I am mad when they watch whatever it is and reel in shock at the end result.

... And I find that the Wallander is a repeat and naughty old BBC4 don't tell you that. All I can say is that they picked a very good one to repeat. I be always impressed by the central performance of Henrik Persson as the serial killing teen.... No I'm not giving anything away here, trust me. But about him I can find nothing else.

Anyway... I apologise if anyone got nightmares from my idea of "comfort" telly.

More Euro-Telly Comfort Crime Food On UK Telly....

So if the French "revivified dead" (aka "The Returned" see previous posts) are not for you and you are grieving for your shot of Swedish crime thriller now that the Arne Dahl season on UK BBC4's Saturday slot has finished....
... be not despondent...

You have two Saturdays with Rolf Lassgard's "Wallander" in the two-parter "Sidetracked" coming up tomorrow evening at 21.00 hrs.