Boyd and The Team

It is a blogging tradition that when anyone writes about Waking The Dead, one should also include comments about Boyd’s shouting. I have put my reference in the title just to get it out of the way and shall endeavour to not mention it again. Trevor Eve who, even to a person of my years, is now more commonly known for his Detective Superintendant Boyd than he is for his immortal Eddie Shoestring, is quite magnificent as the troubled leader of the Cold Case unit and in last week’s penultimate story, “Wounds” his wayward son finally loses his battles with drugs and died of an overdose.

Normally, an event of such magnitude would lead to introspection and naval gazing of epic proportions but, of course, this is a series that does not dwell on the personal circumstances of the unit’s personnel, forgoing the usual exposition and unnecessary dialogue, while instead keeping its focus on the case in hand.  All for the better as well because it is treating its viewers with respect and allows them to fill in the blanks for themselves, something other crime dramas could well learn from.  After all, we are watching the programme because it’s about solving murders and the cases that present themselves are complicated and complex enough without bogging us down in the “soap”.

To wit, this evening’s final story begins, not with Boyd’s reaction to his loss but rather with some harrowing tale of Balkan horrors.  As ever, with only the slightest of clues and insight the scooby gang begin to weave together the threads into an engaging if not always believable tapestry and the sparky and snappy script bounces along sublimely.  The fact that one of the key protagonists in the story is a young, homeless girl who knew Luke (Boyd’s son) and the fact that Grace has now found out about recent events too, suggest that tomorrow night’s conclusion may be rewarding on more than one level.  I also noticed (via Rob) that 2009 will see an eighth series, so plenty more shouting to come (….Rats!)

Bookmark to:

Tags: BBC1, Boyd, Cold-Case, Shoestring, Trevor-Eve, Waking-The-Dead, Wounds