After all the drama provided by Line Of Duty, I was almost thankful for The Secret’s more conventional narrative. That’s not a knock on it at all – this four-part series, based on a true story and starring James Nesbitt and Genevieve O’Reilly, was in some ways refreshing in its structure compared to the helter-skelter Line Of Duty the night previously. What was interesting about this well-played drama was how much tension writer Stuart Urban (based on a book by Deric Henderson) managed to extract from a story that has been out in the public domain since 2009.
NB: There are spoilers in this review Continue reading Review: The Secret (S1 E1/4), Friday 29th April, ITV
It’s a testament to Jed Mercurio and his team of actors that Line Of Duty not only dominated my Twitter timeline last night, but it’s also BBC2’s highest rated drama for 15 years. That’s 15 years! It’s also a testament to the writing and the acting that we’re still talking about it today. I thought I’d throw my two-penneth worth into the mix, and show you some of my favourite reactions to last night’s 90-minute series finale as well as discussing the show even more.
It’s the big one; the one we’ve all been waiting for. Line Of Duty has really captured the imagination and tonight it’s the series three finale, where we finally get to see if The Caddy gets his comeuppance or whether he can successfully frame Steve for his wrongdoings. We’re promised a feature-length episode and some sort of resolution. But this is Jed Mercurio we’re talking about here, so who knows what’s going to happen? There’s a clip after the jump… 
I was lucky enough to meet Irish writer Catherine Ryan Howard at last year’s Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, where she told me about her debut novel that would be published this year. And now, well… Distress Signals is starting to generate some buzz around it and it looks set to be a bit of a hit. It’s released on 5th May (next week!) here in the UK, but already it has been optioned for television. 
Every now and again, we find ourselves thinking that Gotham has lost its way; if an episode is to violent, too rushed, too unfocused, or if character consistency goes out of the window. Then we get an episode like this one, and our faith is restored. Oh, the glee when we realised what the producers had done to Oswald Cobblepot! Fresh out of Arkham, supposedly cured, but in fact merely deadened by Clockwork Orange-style conditioning, Oswald is turned away by Butch and Tabitha, and tarred and feathered (geddit?) for good measure. 
Midsomer Murders is one of our most enduring and most successful crime dramas, and it still remains extremely popular in the UK as well as abroad. The Scandinavian countries, especially, have a real thing for this cosy long-running series. ITV says that production on series 19 (19!) is underway and that DCI John Barnaby will have yet another new sidekick. 
The story of how the Twin Peaks revival came to be will make one heck of a DVD extra documentary one day. We’ve had contract wrangles and rumour after rumour, especially about the cast. Would Kyle MacLachlan be returning? Would Sherilyn Fenn and Sheryl Lee be returning? What about new members of the cast? Naomi Watts? Laura Dern? The rumours have been spat out with fierce frequency, and yet there had been, up until this point, no confirmation. Until today. It’s best to take a sit down and prepare yourself – there are 217 cast members in total and an intriguing array of new additions, including some famous musicians. 
It seems we can’t move for crime drama from the continent these days, thanks to the likes of BBC4 and Walter Presents to name but two broadcasters, and word reaches us from our friends at 
The Killing Times 