As I predicted from the start, fugitive Danny (Dean Lennox Kelly) was revealed to have been smuggling an illegal immigrant into the country; an African man who had gone to great lengths to get to England where his wife and newborn baby are already living. DI Tolin (Douglas Henshall) also became a more rounded character here -- worrying about his disabled daughter's plans to fly the nest to university, and becoming convinced there are huge mysteries to uncover about the traffic accident that nobody else can see.
Tolin's primarily concerned that Karen (Claire Rushbrook) was taken from hospital by two strangers and has now turned up dead in her bath. Strangely, Tolin's the only detective who realizes the crime scene has been staged to make her death look like a suicide -- so is there a conspiracy involving the pharmaceutical company Karen worked for and the police force? I wouldn't be surprised if Tolin turns out to have a background in more front-line policing, too, as he's always having clever insights into the case. If not, the guy's wasted in traffic! Anyway, I thought Henshall was a lot better here, given more emotions to play as he faced various obstacles.
A few subplots were also dipped into: Brian's (Phil Davis) mother-in-law Joyce died in hospital from head trauma after the crash, and it seems more than likely her son-in-law seized the opportunity to kill her after the crash before the paramedics arrived. Indeed, given that flashbacks reminded us how Joyce was confused about Brian's choice of route, I get the impression he was planning to take her somewhere remote and kill her anyway! Brian's wife can sense the truth about her husband, and now Stallwood (Kate Ashfield) has forensic evidence to suggest Joyce suffered her fatal injury after the crash, too. I think Brian will be tasting prison slop before too long, don't worry...
The least compelling story (if only because there's little sense of anything exciting behind it) belonged to demure waitress Jane (Lucy Griffiths), who accepted millionaire Richard's (Paul McGann) invitation to go for a drink. It feels like a very standard story at the moment (the "young, engaged, working class beauty meets the older, married, handsome millionaire" gambit), so it's fortunate Griffiths and McGann are at least watchable in their roles. But I'm only interested because hopefully a twist will reveal itself. Richard must have something to hide, surely, as he's just too good to be true. As one of the least suspicious characters involved in the crash, I therefore suspect he's keeping the biggest secret of them all.
Overall, Collision has been steadily improving every night. It's not really must-watch stuff, I get the impression it's being stretched to last five hours, and a few of the storylines rely on twists you expect from the start (although I hope to be proven wrong about a few...), but it's getting better the longer you stay with it. If it maintains this trajectory, we could be in for a treat come Friday.
11 November 2009
ITV1, 9pm
written by: Anthony Horowitz & Michael A. Walker directed by: Marc Evans starring: Douglas Henshall (DI John Tolin), Kate Ashfield (SIO Ann Stallwood), Sushil Chudasama (PC Sanjay Gopal), Andrew Brooke (PC Alan Clacy), Pip Torrens (Deputy Com Fraser), Paul McGann (Richard Reeves), Jo Woodcock (Jodie Tolin), Christopher Fulford (DCI Stephen Maitland), Dean Lennox Kelly (Danny Rampton), Craig Kelly (Jeffrey Rampton), Frank Harper (Derek), Claire Rushbrook (Karen Donnelly), David Bamber (Sidney Norris), Brian Pettifer (Ed Wilson), Di Botcher (Mrs Whitfield), Lenora Crichlow (Alice Jackson), Anwar Lynch (Gareth Clay), Nimmy March (Carol Jackson), Colin McFarlane (Bill Jackson), Zoe Telford (Sandra Rampton), Nick Moss (Jake), Pano Masti (Ozan), Lucy Griffiths (Jane Tarrant), Matt Ryan (Dave Brown), Christopher Villiers (Keith Fowler), Jocelyn Jee Esien (Cindie Smith), Joe Westcott (Simon Parker), Caroline Trowbridge (Mrs Parker) & Phil Davis (Brian Edwards)
