This was an adaptation we didn't need. It had been pretty well done in 2003 with Martin Shaw as Dalgleish and Robert Hardy was great value, as always. Jesse Spencer shone as the troubled ordinand. The college was on the edge of a dangerous cliff by the sea. The adaptation stayed close to the book, which had only recently come out. The cast was twice the size of this rather cut-price version. There is very little atmosphere at all - the college is deserted for one thing - it's the holidays - with literally no one there apart from the small group of suspects. Just about every character is unpleasant. There is no one to root for. Have they forgotten it's meant to be entertaining? Bertie C is just terrible as Dalgleish. He has pretty much reduced the character down to grim and miserable austerity. He is boring. Roy Marsden was by far the best Dalgleish, because, for one thing, he added just a touch of human warmth. Martin Shaw was physically a bit ox-like, which he couldn't help, but otherwise OK. The sidekick, played by Alistair Brammer, is boring as well. To be charitable, the part as written probably gives him little chance to be anything else. As I write, I'm waiting to see what they do with Devices and Desires, which also was good in its previous incarnation.
