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Red Riding

Andrew Garfield as Eddie Dunford in Red Riding
  • Posted at 2:50pm
  • 06 March 2009
  • by PaulJones-RT
  • 4 comments

It wasn't the explicit gore-fest we've come to expect from the modern British serial killer drama, but Red Riding was just as brutal and far more disturbing than most.

Set in 1974, this first of three two-hour episodes adapted from David Peace's quartet of novels plunged us into a world where almost the entire police force of West Yorkshire (not to mention the journalists!) were corrupt and murderous.

So violence and malevolence pervaded the story, rather than being delivered in measured doses of blood and guts. Emotionally draining, yes. But tremendously gripping also.

Red Riding is a subtly innovative police drama. Beautifully shot - in warm tones befitting the era, rather than the fashionable washed-out blues and greys that are supposed to denote high-quality drama these days - it flitted between often half-realised scenes with a dreamlike quality that sometimes helped to take the edge off the anxiety, but occasionally made things much worse.

Finding the protagonist, newspaper reporter Eddie Dunford (the excellent Andrew Garfield), locked naked in a dank cell with two cops we already knew to be sadistic thugs, was more like being trapped in a nightmare.

Plotwise, Red Riding was relatively predictable. But it didn't pretend to be anything else. It didn't need the kind of convoluted, pointlessly twisting story that is apparently seen as an essential ingredient of TV thrillers these days.

Indeed, the initial plot, of abducted, murdered little girls was - shocking to say - almost arbitrary, and certainly secondary to the meat of the bigger picture of unconfined corruption.

We were finally rewarded with two nuggets of jubilance - this week's Big Bad, John Dawson (a carelessly depraved Sean Bean), getting his comeuppance, and our hero Eddie, if that's what he was, going down in a blaze of glory. Which is probably the best anyone can hope for in Peace's captivatingly nihilistic world.

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Comments

  • Posted on 28 March 2009
  • at 2:11pm
  • by Joanne

i found this trilogy absolutely fantastic, deeply disturbing and dark, everything I wanted it to be. The superb cast were believable and the storyline was immensely gripping. A work of art if anything.

  • Posted on 13 March 2009
  • at 10:30am
  • by Jonathan

Deeply disappointing. After the advertising build - up, I was looking forward to realistic drama. Are we still thirsting for gratuitous violence? The acting as expected was first rate but I was looking forward to more than just good performances.

  • Posted on 12 March 2009
  • at 6:21pm
  • by Peter

Not impressed. The way the poor reporter was continually beaten senseless yet jumped up right as rain to zoom off in his car to continue his quest was simply ludicrous. Perhaps I wasn't paying close enough attention, but where did he get the gun from? The incident where he barged in to some event bawling for his girl friend was corny and equally ludicrous.

  • Posted on 06 March 2009
  • at 6:02pm
  • by Jason Greenwood

Sadly I missed the first hour of Red Riding, because I had been suckered into watching Andrew Marr's essay on evolution. But this brilliant drama actually said more about social Darwinism than Marr's efforts. I was completely captivated by the bleak beauty of this film, the reality of the script and some exceptional performances (Sean Bean was a revelation). I don't usually watch TV drama on account of all those moronic Americanic cliches that tend to pile up, but this was something else. I'll be watching the next episode from the beginning. Sorry Andy, but it's survival of the fittest...

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