Radio Times

It's only a matter of time now before people stop me in corridors and possibly even approach me on railway station platforms during my daily commute. And they'll all want to know: "Did you understand Waking the Dead last night?"

The answer will be "no". I never understand Waking the Dead. Even with the luxury of preview DVDs that can be rewound and re-viewed, I always fall through the holes in the plots, barking my shins and scratching my arms. And it drives me MAD, I tell you, MAD.

I never learn. I should just say to myself: "Stop letting this bother you. Stop obsessing on Waking the Dead's pathological stupidity and complete absence of reality; it's not a documentary, it's a silly, silly detective series. Let it go."

But I can't. Like just about every other sane person who's ever sat through an episode of Waking the Dead, I always have torrents of unanswered questions at the end of every episode.

Who was so-and-so? Why did he or she commit murder? How come Det Supt Peter Boyd (Trevor Eve) never answers to any authority figure? Why aren't he and his team ever approached by journalists? How do they get away with doing absolutely everything themselves, without uniformed backup?

Why does the increasingly deranged Boyd consistently act outside the law, browbeating suspects in untaped police interviews, suspects who are never cautioned or made aware of their rights? And why does he never wear a tie?

Waking the Dead's outrageous plot leaps leave me gasping. And there's a huge one in the first of a new series (Sunday 6 September/Monday 7 September, 9:00pm, BBC1) that was such a sideswiper I had to stop for breath before spluttering: "Er, hang on, where did that come from?"

The story is a typically tangled, gothic Waking the Dead tale involving pitilessly cruel Irish nuns in a Magdalene laundry, sleazy 1960s Soho and an abused woman with memory loss (she's played by Trevor Eve's real-life wife, Sharon Maughan).

The woman comes haring out of woods, naked and acutely distressed. She remembers nothing of her recent past, though it's obvious she's been through a dreadful experience.

Boyd's a nasty piece of work, and strangely unempathetic for a police officer, so all of the gentle stuff is left to his tame psychologist Grace (Sue Johnston), who effectively does his job for him by doing the criminal investigation legwork - interviewing victims, suspects and so on. The poor woman, she gets nothing for her pains but constant criticism from her barmy boss. She should resign. That would show him.

**

Alison Graham is TV editor of Radio Times - read her column in the latest issue of Radio Times magazine, on sale now.

This show is good, intelligent, escapist fun. It's not the police officers' guide book, so, Ms Graham, get over it. It is what it is, a show well worth watching, and you can watch with anticipation, knowing the second part of the episode will be just as good. No, it's not entirely believable, but neither are "reality" TV shows, it's just more intelligent. I'm a USA watcher and we don't have anything quite this good. Will there be a 9th series?

help - i missed the last few minutes of part two of "end game"! last bit i saw was grace being found attached to chemo machine and boyd chasing linda cummings up onto the roof - not available on iplayer now :( can anyone put me out of my misery and tell me what happened??? please....

OMG I loved this series :) It was excellent!!

It doesn't have to conform to the way of other shows and I think it's great that it shows some unorthodox methods, anyway just because it is a show about cold case specialists solving cases, it doesn't have to be to the book, it's not a documentary so really who's bothered if it doesn't stick to full reality? Certainly not me, I think it's a cool show with excellent, believable actors so from my personal opinion it's great viewing :)

I love waking the dead its a brilliant crime drama i also think if grace resigned boyd would soon be begging for her to come back, i dont think he'd be able to cope without her to support him and tell her about his feelings. i love the series and i hope it keeps going and that trevor eve and sue johnston stay in because it wouldn't be the same without boyd and grace not even for just one series. boyd can be annoying at points but i found it really funny when him and grace had a really big arguement and grace left for a while it wasnt the same but in the end she did come back so thats ok.

Waking the Dead is an exceptionally good programme and thank goodness is far removed from the dumned down 'sound bite' light entertainment so beloved of by many currnet programme producers.

A huge pat on the back for all involved with this programme - if there is one critism it is only that there is not a series of relateed novels available.

Just wanted to share my disappointment about the wtd episode 'substitute'. Although, if you're a wtd fan, you have already learned to live with Boyd's erratic and sometimes outrageous behaviour, this episode went too far. I was actually disgusted - both with his attempts to get information under duress from Stefab by causing the sprinkler system to trigger and by the absolutely disgraceful ending. I think that any police drama needs to have a certain level of integrity and this episode was completely lacking in it. If the scriptwriters continue with this development of Boyd's character, then the audience will fail completely to identify with him and turn the channel. I hope that this appalling episode was merely an aberration and normal service will be resumed soon.

Hi, Alison,

To avoid spoiling it for others who also haven't yet seen the episode, why not catch the last ten minutes on BBC iPlayer? It's available for the next seven days.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00n156z/ Waking_the_Dead_Series_8_End_Game_Part_2/

Helen

Hi - please can someone tell me what happened in the last 10 minutes of Part Two last night?!! Thank you!

just watched the last episode of wtd on bbc1 and can't wait for the next series, felicite du jeu was breath-taking,bring on series 9 of wtd.love it !!!!

The last two-part of Waking the Dead was probably the best episode I have seen in any of the series. And I am someone who far preferred the old style problem solving episodes with people like Timothy West and Corin Redgrave. And even though Ruth Gemmell was a police officer in an early series I thought her acting in the last episode was incredible- she won't have to worry about EastEnders from now on. I hope it is not the last we have seen of Waking the Dead.

don't criticise real programs where people have actually worked to make them while the rest of the schedule is taken up with reality rubbish made on the cheap.

WTF? this was already getting silly but when the police knowlingly fled the scene of a murder in progress (I'm sure there is a law on this) it realy hit new heights of nonsense. Great fun to watch though. I think I fancy Boyd, is that wrong?

Can anyone help here please? I am so confused about the second episode of Substitute and the four of us watching couldn't fathom it either. The bit I mean is right at the beginning - Spencer is sitting at his desk speaking to the Electricity Board about supply power to a disused farm. Where did he start to look into the farm and how did he stumble upon it? There didn't seem to be any mention of it in the first episode, yet at the start of the second, it miraculously appears and pretty much leads them straight to the 'baddies'. My poor little brain aches! Thanks in advance.

What the????!!

I have just finished watching Substitute Part 2 and although I'm usually very good at suspending my disbelief, what the hell was this all about???????????? THey're police and they let someone be shot knowingly???? especially someone as sexy as Stefan (Joseph Mawles)??? WHY COULDN'T THEY ARREST ALL THREE BADDIES?????? That's what the police are THERE for???? UTTERYLY, completely bizarre ending. Very disappointing.

Yes yes yes I know I'm mad to have succumbed to watch it again having sworn I would never ever in my life watch another episode after the ghastly mad nuns one, but I did, and now I can't understand WHY they drove away leaving Stefan to die....will someone please explain WHY THEY DID THIS AS IT'S DRIVING ME MAD!!!!!! I loved him!!!!!!!!!!!!! And so did Eve!!!!!!

Whilst the show is just for entertainment, and can be confusing sometimes, it's hard to misunderstand the conclusion of 'Substitute', in which Boyd lets a man get killed, and even tells the killers they're free to do it. I probably won't be able to watch the show again; not because it wasn't gripping and entertaining, but because the realism has gone. I can't see the detectives as upholders of the law any more if they do things like THAT.

Admittedly, the character killed was definitely not a good guy, but Boyd could've arrested the major crime boss present, rather than letting him kill his grunt, who had done far less to deserve death. It completely eliminated the idea that they're on the side of good.

I can completely understand the confusion over this week's episode with the aid workers, the blond girl, the ferry disaster etc. The body parts trade confounded me but then it fell into place after 1hr 45 mins of mystery! The aid worker, Bryony, was killed by Devlin's sidekick, the black guy whose name I missed; Devlin and same sidekick killed the blonde girl with braces; Devlin, aid worker's boyfriend,was the UK mastermind (there must have been more people overseas) and he ordered the murder of his girlfriend after he thought that she'd betrayed the set-up by giving information to Eve's boyfriend - the main subject of the programme and whose name I can't remember! AFter he'd rescued her from his own evil clutches she now knew what he was capable of, and his alter ego, and that he worked closely with Devlin so would have been involved in most things; Devlin telling him he was having Bryony killed was also another hold he had over Eve's boyfriend because he was now complicit. The entry card was taken from Eve some months before she and the Ukrainian (or whichever nationality) 'met' so she realised that he'd targetted her and that she was meant to be trapped - I presume that they'd been intending to get her onto their 'team' by getting her so seriously compromised that she'd have to do what they said - taking body parts out, using home office equipment, materials etc? Not as regulated as a hospital and easier to do things privately perhaps? That's my conclusion anyway! I'll read through this post and decide I'm all wrong! That's the fun of the programme, and I adore Trevor Eve so although he was cruel to Eve I can forgive him, this time! It's the writer's guts I'll be after if Boyd is nasty to Eve again!

Why does the 2nd part of wtd have to be scheduled @ 10:30 on a Mon night? And a school night at that?

… I normally enjoy the complex story lines of waking the dead but last nights concluding part of 'substitute' was just too much… can someone, anyone, please, please, please tell me what happened… who killed the woman aid worker? who killed the blonde girl with braces? what part did the aid workers boyfriend play in the whole thing and the murder of his girlfriend (the aid worker)? and what significance was the entry card of Eve's that her boyfriend/aid worker/murderer/illegal trader in body parts actually have with the story line and how it lead Eve to conclude that he was the murderer?…and of who! oh my word I am confused!

I had the misfortune of watching the concluding part of another "Waking the Dead" this evening! While I often feel irritated and disillusioned by 10pm on a Monday evening as a consequence of this show, and Trevor Eves complete lack of on-screen presense, tonight has gone a step further. So insensed am I that I have had to find some medium through which to divulge my complete disgust. "It's just a programme" I tell myself, however I remain uncomforted. What I have just witnessed is nothing less than a complete laugh in the face of human rights, humanity and justice! Three police officers, and a colleage, sworn to protect society and uphold the law…who ostensibly are disgusted by the actions of another character, actually encourage and allow for his assassination! Never NEVER could I have anticipated this ending - the only conclusion I can draw is that the writers of these stories are completely out of touch with reality. I will never watch the show again.

Today's the 21st of September, and I just finished watching part 2 of the 'Waking the Dead' episode 'Substitute'. Whilst it was just as gripping as any other episode, other episodes tend to have a mildly happy ending, in which the bad people get caught.

The ending to THIS episode was wrong on so many different levels. However, I guess that is one way of keeping it gripping.

I'm enjoying it, but what spoils it for me is the character played by Sue Johnston, I mean … having been in Royle Family (that's right eh?)… I can't take her seriously. If even Boyd (Trevor Eve) had been 'an unknown' it would have made it better for me.

I like Waking the Dead also. Rejoice in its complexity. There is too much dumbing down in crime dramas these day. Trial and Retribution used to be edgy and ambiguous - now it has turned into Taggert. As for WTD plot holes and sillines - well that could be directed at 95% of all tv. If that is the best you can come up with this month maybe Radio Times should consider employing more imaginative bloggers.

I love Waking the Dead and look forward to its return after each season. The characters are all very different but interesting. Why did Felicite du Jeu who plays Stella leave after the first episode of Series 8? She will be sorely missed hopefully she is working on another TV show or film and it also looks if Spence is looking to go. Maybe this won't be good for the show.

I thought this week's two-part episode was one of the worst. The "investigation" was hopelessly unbelievable and too coincidental to be true. The ending has to be one of the most depressing ever & that's saying a lot.

This weeks Waking The Dead was one of the best ever, though very grim indeed. Reminded me a bit of the episode with Toby Stephens, where he pretended to be a doctor while living in an allotment shed.

The only criticism I would have of the show is that there does seem to be an obsession with Catholicism, doctors, and abduction.

Complete and utter nonsense.Yet more of my license money down the drain.I demand a refund.

I love Waking the Dead & I Love Trev Eve. The Stories are fab & you'd have to be stupid not to understand or be able to follow the plots. With regards Stella & Spencer they're meant to be background characters & i think that of recent series they have been more involved in solving the crimes/ cases.

You can't fault it, its one of the BBC's current best programme's.

Keep it Coming : )

I love Waking The Dead dor the fact that it IS silly and un-believable! It makes it a dramatic drama to watch and one you can really did your teeth into, especially as there is less and less gritty drama on tv now. Trevor Eve is such a fantastic actor that it is always worth watching, even if he is rather horrid to the world.. but there are reasons for this which are discussed. I agree about the fact that Stella and Spencer are seemingly more reduced to background rolls but at least we know now - Stella has died in an unlikely way and Spencer seemingly wants out! It's all go!

From the first episode it's become compulsive viewing for me, and it's no dafter than New Tricks which I also love!

WHO DIED IN MAGDELINE? EYES ARE BAD COULDN'T SEE IF IT WAS HUBBY OR ONE OF SISTERS

Alison, the last episode was not difficult to follow if you concentrated. Maybe the plot was far-fetched but at least it was entertainment which required a certain level of intelligence, unlike a lot of tv, these days. The interview scene between Boyd and Elizabeth was perfectly acted, especially considering that they are spouses in real life. Then there is also the lovely Tara Fitzgerald with her sexy voice!

In my view the series starting going downhill when Holly Aird and Claire Goose left after series 4, with the plots gradually becoming evermore esoteric, if not non-existent. The scripts deteriorated from then on and have continued downward, not least being in the dialogue and interplay between the characters. Watch anything from the earlier series and you will find an almost family atmosphere between the team - especially the Boyd/Felix and Boyd/Mel exchanges. Indeed, Boyd was much more interesting and almost likeable, but now he is nothing more than a one-dimensional monster, whilst Spencer and Stella have been reduced to mere background characters.

I found it totally believable but only because I enjoy watching Trevor Eve do his stuff. Each series has changed how the stories are told and sure whether I prefer the oldest series to this newer ones, but long may the BBC continue to make Waking the Dead and long may Trevor Eve grace our screens

What do you mean no uniformed backup Alison? Look at PC Katrina Howard in part 1 of this story - rolls across the floor, grabs Stella's gun and takes out the bad guy with a single shot through the forehead!

I find it easy to suspend disbelief with Waking the dead' all aided by the fact that I would always watch Sue Johnston's brillient acting in almost anything. Bad acting is the only thing to make me examine holes in plots and there is no bad acting here. Ido agree about the next time.... they spoil it totally

I and everyone in my household completely understood the episode and enjoyed it immensely. Cant wait for episode 2.

I do agree with whoever said we should be warned before the recap though. It's ridiculous.

Boyd is the equivalent of the serial killer Dexter. In that he operates within the code of criminal's practice to justify undoing any wrong doing. We've seen him intimidate, unlawfully detain and torture for example. The show reflects the US CSI franchise; what with it's 'holistic style' of one unit covering all areas of criminal procedure - barring the courtroom scene - and only begrudginly bringing in plod at the very end. And this bugs the life out of me. The team act like some scared army unit ala Oliver Stones' Platoon; with Specialist Empathy, Science and Hard Man cleaning up after their mad Sgt. Major in the name of duty. It's hard to find empathy and/or sympathy with a thug, whatever the apparel, and his brow beaten crew. Where's Charlie Sheen when The Law needs him?! I mean, of course you'd want loved one's to find justice. But at what cost, Guantanamo Bay?

I do have to agree on alot of the points you make there Alison and I have one more grievance to add to that. It affects alot of programmes these days and it makes me so angry and that is the 2 minutes at the end of the episode entitled 'Next time'. I don't want to see that snipers are brought in to take down one of the lead characters in the plot! I also don't want to know the Boyd meets with a certain character more than once in the next episode! It is a pain and there should be a spoiler warning or something and an option to turn over. It makes me mad.

Its just a bit of entertainment Alison graham, stop moaning, i enjoy watching it. Theirs no need to take so seriosly, better than all the reality tv we have to put up with, british tv has gone write down the way, i enjoy a crime drama, other than a good drama trial and retribution, wire in the blood rebus and yes waking the dead ,im afraid its American tv for me, as i said can't stand reality Tv Rubbish, so leave us alone fans of a good crime drama ,and also a good cast.. yours sincerely ViV