"Are you joking? Cautious is my middle name."
So says Bill Paterson's parapsychologist to his editor early on in the first episode, and it's unintentionally indicative of the opening story. There's lots to admire in the BBC's new fantasy series but like Bill's editor, I sometimes wish it could be "juiced up a bit".
This is supernatural drama done in the style of a Sunday evening detective show like Dangerfield or Inspector Morse. Lots of photogenic countryside, nice middle-class characters and a fairly leisurely pace, at least until the latter parts. It had an intriguing plot, delving into paranoia, desperate needs, shifting personalities and power games. But the two hour format brought in some wearisome padding in part one. Ironically the whole telepathic angle was almost incidental in the end. It could have been a drama about seperated adult twins, where one twin was disturbed, with almost no rewriting required.
Siobhan Redmond gave an excellent dual performance as Carol and Helen, making both women individual and believable, whilst the FX for their scenes together were unnoticeable. Bill Patterson isn't stretched by playing a reliable middle-aged academic but he's always good to watch. As his assistants, Archie Panjabi and Peter MacDonald didn't have much to say other than "I'm a believer / I'm a sceptic" but hopefully will develop personalities in coming episodes.
The knife wielding, firery inferno conclusion was excellently staged and the twist, whilst telegraphed, ended the story well.
I'm sounding more negative than I really feel. "Sea of Souls" is well made and reassuringly British but its a paranormal series that needs to believe in itself a bit more. Otherwise it'll just be yet another 'maverick professional' drama clone like "Silent Witness".
Gaz
So says Bill Paterson's parapsychologist to his editor early on in the first episode, and it's unintentionally indicative of the opening story. There's lots to admire in the BBC's new fantasy series but like Bill's editor, I sometimes wish it could be "juiced up a bit".
This is supernatural drama done in the style of a Sunday evening detective show like Dangerfield or Inspector Morse. Lots of photogenic countryside, nice middle-class characters and a fairly leisurely pace, at least until the latter parts. It had an intriguing plot, delving into paranoia, desperate needs, shifting personalities and power games. But the two hour format brought in some wearisome padding in part one. Ironically the whole telepathic angle was almost incidental in the end. It could have been a drama about seperated adult twins, where one twin was disturbed, with almost no rewriting required.
Siobhan Redmond gave an excellent dual performance as Carol and Helen, making both women individual and believable, whilst the FX for their scenes together were unnoticeable. Bill Patterson isn't stretched by playing a reliable middle-aged academic but he's always good to watch. As his assistants, Archie Panjabi and Peter MacDonald didn't have much to say other than "I'm a believer / I'm a sceptic" but hopefully will develop personalities in coming episodes.
The knife wielding, firery inferno conclusion was excellently staged and the twist, whilst telegraphed, ended the story well.
I'm sounding more negative than I really feel. "Sea of Souls" is well made and reassuringly British but its a paranormal series that needs to believe in itself a bit more. Otherwise it'll just be yet another 'maverick professional' drama clone like "Silent Witness".
Gaz
