Writer: Mark Greig
Director: Catherine Morshead
Cast: Philip Glenister (DCI Gene Hunt), Keeley Hawes (DI Alex Drake), Dean Andrews (DS Ray Carling), Marshall Lancaster (DC Chris Skelton), Montserrat Lombard (WPC Sharon "Shaz" Granger), Joseph Long (Luigi), Geff Francis (Viv James), Andrew Clover (The Clown), Amelia Bullmore (Caroline Price), Stephen Campbell Moore (Evan White) & Grace Vance (Molly Drake)
A man who worked at a government weapons facility is murdered, leading CID to investigate a feminist socialist group…
I've abandoned hope of ever caring about DI Alex Drake's (Keeley Hawes) plight -- because she's not stuck in the past, just her own imagination – so I'm only really watching for some retro-cop drama now. The Missing Link benefits from an interesting storyline and for tightening the "murder mystery" of Alex's parents, but it's still difficult to care about this make-believe world...
This week's investigation concerns Mark Kennedy, a government worker who is found murdered at the dockyards. Gene (Philip Glenister) and Alex soon discover Martin was smuggling nuclear secrets out of the Edgehampton weapons facility where he worked, to the Revolutionary Workers Front; primarily a feminist socialist group who are against weapons stockpiling.
Alex is also intrigued to find her mother Caroline Price (Amelia Bullmore) is involved as the plot thickens, as she was blackmailed with photos of her sleeping with family-friend Evan White (Stephen Campbell Moore) while her husband Tim was away working. Of course, this revelation enrages Alex – who never knew her mother had a fling with her own daughter's godfather. She should remind herself that none of this is real, eh?
The storyline nicely develops to involve MI5, who Gene and Alex suspect killed Martin when he was exposed as an in-house leak. It was interesting to see CID come up against a government-backed threat, as a MI5 agent effortlessly poses as a "DC Baker" and steals all the evidence they have. Gene and Alex decide to get inside Edgehampton (using a fake ID), to find evidence of neutron bomb testing (project "Artemus") using a map encoded by Martin and hidden inside his diary.
Once inside (I can't believe a fake ID with Gene's face glued on actually worked!), Alex and Gene locate a vault storing filing cabinets of secret documents and find "Artemus", but accidentally lock themselves inside the airless room. The sexual tension begins to rise when it gets so hot that Alex is forced to take off here top (revealing a bright red bra), but any amorous advance by Gene is shot down when Ray (Dean Andrews), Chris (Marshall Lancaster) and Shaz (Montserrat Lombard) arrive to free them as part of a back-up plan.
It's eventually revealed that Martin was actually killed by his feminist contact Sara Templeton after he tried to rape her, putting a government-sanctioned hit out of the equation. Alex also begins to suspect her mother's dealings with dangerous people and government secrets might be the reason she was killed in a car bomb attack. Caroline is stunned by Alex's compassion when she's handed the original negatives of her affair with Evan – not realizing it's because Alex is actually protecting her own family in doing so.
I actually quite enjoyed this storyline. It had a few layers to it, made sense throughout, and even managed to grip me on a few occasions -- particularly when MI5 got involved, and the stakes were raised as a consequence. But it was a shame the story got cold feet towards the end, and decided to make Mark Kennedy's murder an act of retribution by a rape victim.
Caroline Price is still a horrid character, but at least there's a clearer sense of why she's a regular fixture on the show: as we're starting to realize why someone might want her dead. So, can Alex prevent her own mother's death? I really hope not, as Caroline's utterly dislikeable, and her murder doesn't seem to have scarred modern-day Alex that much – being an intelligent, successful, single mother living in 2008. And how can saving a make-believe person's life in a 1981 fantasy-world possible affect the trajectory of a bullet inches away from impacting Alex's head, anyway?
And isn't it alarming that I can go so long without even mentioning Gene Hunt in a review? I don't know, I just think the magic has gone with that character now. Glenister gets the odd good line and still has on-screen presence, but I'm getting fed up with his permanent sneer and the way he just grumbles or barks his dialogue.
Overall, The Missing Link was definitely a big improvement in terms of plotting and narrative, and I'm glad Keeley Hawes ditched Alex's capriciousness this week, but every episode of Ashes To Ashes is crippled by the show's concept: that nothing you see is "real" and, therefore, none of it really matters. I wish I could trick myself into believing Alex really is back in 1981, but I can't.
All I thought when Alex realized her mother had an affair was: well, she probably didn't. You're just imagining she did, based on hazy memories from when you were a little girl. Oh, and did anyone else giggle when Alex called her daughter "Mol", bearing in mind what's planted on the left cheek of the actress playing Molly? Heh.
28 February 2008
BBC1, 9.00 pm
Director: Catherine Morshead
Cast: Philip Glenister (DCI Gene Hunt), Keeley Hawes (DI Alex Drake), Dean Andrews (DS Ray Carling), Marshall Lancaster (DC Chris Skelton), Montserrat Lombard (WPC Sharon "Shaz" Granger), Joseph Long (Luigi), Geff Francis (Viv James), Andrew Clover (The Clown), Amelia Bullmore (Caroline Price), Stephen Campbell Moore (Evan White) & Grace Vance (Molly Drake)
A man who worked at a government weapons facility is murdered, leading CID to investigate a feminist socialist group…"So what are you: C or a D cup?"
-- DCI Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister)
I've abandoned hope of ever caring about DI Alex Drake's (Keeley Hawes) plight -- because she's not stuck in the past, just her own imagination – so I'm only really watching for some retro-cop drama now. The Missing Link benefits from an interesting storyline and for tightening the "murder mystery" of Alex's parents, but it's still difficult to care about this make-believe world...
This week's investigation concerns Mark Kennedy, a government worker who is found murdered at the dockyards. Gene (Philip Glenister) and Alex soon discover Martin was smuggling nuclear secrets out of the Edgehampton weapons facility where he worked, to the Revolutionary Workers Front; primarily a feminist socialist group who are against weapons stockpiling.
Alex is also intrigued to find her mother Caroline Price (Amelia Bullmore) is involved as the plot thickens, as she was blackmailed with photos of her sleeping with family-friend Evan White (Stephen Campbell Moore) while her husband Tim was away working. Of course, this revelation enrages Alex – who never knew her mother had a fling with her own daughter's godfather. She should remind herself that none of this is real, eh?
The storyline nicely develops to involve MI5, who Gene and Alex suspect killed Martin when he was exposed as an in-house leak. It was interesting to see CID come up against a government-backed threat, as a MI5 agent effortlessly poses as a "DC Baker" and steals all the evidence they have. Gene and Alex decide to get inside Edgehampton (using a fake ID), to find evidence of neutron bomb testing (project "Artemus") using a map encoded by Martin and hidden inside his diary.
Once inside (I can't believe a fake ID with Gene's face glued on actually worked!), Alex and Gene locate a vault storing filing cabinets of secret documents and find "Artemus", but accidentally lock themselves inside the airless room. The sexual tension begins to rise when it gets so hot that Alex is forced to take off here top (revealing a bright red bra), but any amorous advance by Gene is shot down when Ray (Dean Andrews), Chris (Marshall Lancaster) and Shaz (Montserrat Lombard) arrive to free them as part of a back-up plan.
It's eventually revealed that Martin was actually killed by his feminist contact Sara Templeton after he tried to rape her, putting a government-sanctioned hit out of the equation. Alex also begins to suspect her mother's dealings with dangerous people and government secrets might be the reason she was killed in a car bomb attack. Caroline is stunned by Alex's compassion when she's handed the original negatives of her affair with Evan – not realizing it's because Alex is actually protecting her own family in doing so.
I actually quite enjoyed this storyline. It had a few layers to it, made sense throughout, and even managed to grip me on a few occasions -- particularly when MI5 got involved, and the stakes were raised as a consequence. But it was a shame the story got cold feet towards the end, and decided to make Mark Kennedy's murder an act of retribution by a rape victim.
Caroline Price is still a horrid character, but at least there's a clearer sense of why she's a regular fixture on the show: as we're starting to realize why someone might want her dead. So, can Alex prevent her own mother's death? I really hope not, as Caroline's utterly dislikeable, and her murder doesn't seem to have scarred modern-day Alex that much – being an intelligent, successful, single mother living in 2008. And how can saving a make-believe person's life in a 1981 fantasy-world possible affect the trajectory of a bullet inches away from impacting Alex's head, anyway?
And isn't it alarming that I can go so long without even mentioning Gene Hunt in a review? I don't know, I just think the magic has gone with that character now. Glenister gets the odd good line and still has on-screen presence, but I'm getting fed up with his permanent sneer and the way he just grumbles or barks his dialogue.
Overall, The Missing Link was definitely a big improvement in terms of plotting and narrative, and I'm glad Keeley Hawes ditched Alex's capriciousness this week, but every episode of Ashes To Ashes is crippled by the show's concept: that nothing you see is "real" and, therefore, none of it really matters. I wish I could trick myself into believing Alex really is back in 1981, but I can't.
All I thought when Alex realized her mother had an affair was: well, she probably didn't. You're just imagining she did, based on hazy memories from when you were a little girl. Oh, and did anyone else giggle when Alex called her daughter "Mol", bearing in mind what's planted on the left cheek of the actress playing Molly? Heh.
28 February 2008
BBC1, 9.00 pm
