A weekend at The Edge of Darkness

Over the bank holiday weekend  I enjoyed watching in full the six episodes of Edge of Darkness. It stars Bob Peck (who later played rugged raptor food in Jurassic Park) as Ronnie Craven, a widowed Police officer dealing with the murder of his daughter played by Joanne Whalley.

When broadcast in 1985 this brooding story of murder and plutonium, corruption and dirty deals fitted with the cold war paranoia and the post Falkland political landscape. For a BBC production it was very high end, staggering locations, a quality cast and a sound track from Eric Clapton. 

In the early episodes Craven faces the reality of the woman his daughter was becoming, both as a political and sexual being. His own mental health is precarious. Who the enemy is remains elusive. Characters like Harcourt and Pendleton appear like riddles. But what made it remarkable were the strong environmentalist themes. The threat wasn’t the Russians; we were the threat against the planet. These kinds of ideas are familiar now but very much less so then.

What was it like seeing it today? Overall it still stands up. Peck’s performance remains incredibly powerful. The paranoia is still a strong as ever. It is funny seeing a show made in the mid 80’s rather than an ‘Ashes to Ashes’ recreation. It is not littered with sexism and racism. Even the smoking by then was subdued. They did shift a fair bit of whiskey while on duty mind.

Also it was a world where computers we still things housed in special buildings. The scenes of offices with piled files and no screens, and of where the only phones were in buildings attached to cables looked strange now.Some bits creek. Some of the characters are two dimensional cartoons. Godbolt the corrupt Union Boss and Darius Jedburgh as the Texan CIA man are painted crudely. Zoe Wannamaker’s character is barely filled in which is a shame. These rather jar with the downbeat tone of what is going on around them. There are nice touches even with these characters. The Scottish landlady insisting on pronouncing Jedburgh as in ‘Edinburgh’ not as in ‘Pittsburgh’ to the American’s rising annoyance while he suffers from radiation poisoning.

The ending is appropriately gloomy, with so much unanswered and unresolved.  

Looking for contemporary equivalents, its spirit is closer to the Scandinavian noir of The Killing than much home grown. It certainly has little in common with the Mel Gibson big screen version. In terms of what the influences were on it, being written by Troy Kennedy Martin of Z Cars fame the police procedural was going to be there. Also though intentional or not with Peck’s melancholy internal search for his daughter, the sparse blues of the soundtrack, and the lingering pace brought to mind Paris Texas. Maybe it is the pacing that is so different from today. Six hours is a long time, much of it is spent in close up on Pecks face. It is hard to imagine an audience of millions sticking with it today. Parts are self-indulgent and it’s up to viewer whether these can be forgiven.

I am going to make some unfair comparisons. Watch this, then watch a more conventional thriller, say an early episode of Morse. Morse is cosy, slow and predictable. It does not seek to reflect the real world, even of the Oxford in which it was made. Watch Smiley’s People. Brilliantly acted and complex yes, but also about a world that had gone. It raises few questions about the future, let alone direct challenges. We know the commies are the bad guys.  Edge of Darkness does both. It is hard not to admire he courage of those who made what is generally accepted as a landmark series. It was deliberately political and provocative. It is complex and challenging for its audience. It is hard to imagine the current cowed BBC putting its resources and heart into such a project.

If you have the time do watch it.

Trivia

A couple of years before Edge of Darkness there was another psychological thriller, this time focusing on computers and the internet called Bird of Prey. It starred Richard Griffiths who plays a Civil Servant being drawn into conflict with a shadowing power. Both this and Edge of Darkness were produced by Michael Wearing. A fairly impressive CV for the man.