pawebster

Harriet Walter doesn't try to mimic Thatcher's accent very closely, which leads to a more natural, less strangulated performance than those of Meryl Streep and Gillian Anderson. She looks too old, but is otherwise fairly convincing. As for Steve Coogan, I agree with another reviewer who says he often just seems to be playing himself. This is sadly true. Despite slight touches of the voice and diction, he doesn't capture Walden's manner as I remember it (and as we see it in those few seconds at the end.) Also I'd have liked more about the 1989 situation and less of the back story that took up episode 1.

Martin Clunes is very good in this, as is Gerran Howell (playing much younger than his real age) as the drug-dealing friend of Clunes' son. Carly-Sophia Davies as the girfriend is also quite a lot older than her role suggests and she performs it well, though she perhaps doesn't look quite as young as her character should. Louis Serkis is closest to the right age for his character as Clunes's son and is adequate. He is supposed to be traumatised for most of the story, but I could imagine someone else doing a better job. As with most of such serials, it is stretched out over too many episodes (by about two) and the ending is not satisfying. I won't say more, so as to avoid spoilers. Nevertheless, it kept me engaged right through.

...but that's not saying a lot. It might not to so bad if we couldn't compare it on YouTube with episode 1 of the 1991 Anglia TV version (sadly only that one episode). This is of such low quality in comparison. For one thing it's more cheaply made with about a third of the cast, according to IMDB. That was set in the P D James setting of Norfolk with local accents and atmosphere. Now we have moved to an unconvincing generic location which is described af Kent. (If it was really Kent, Dungeness would have been the place to set it.) Roy Marsden was a slightly sad but also human and likeable Dalgliesh. Bertie Carvel's is mainly just grim and glum. Now we have goodies and baddies, much like in a children's story. Back then there was actual nuance. Take for instance the caravan-dwelling protesters, Neil and Amy. Now they are just angry caricatures. In 1991, Robert Hines and Nicola Cowper included a gentle, touching, human quality to the roles. There was Gemma Craven and Suzanna York and various other excellent actors of the period. Nuff said. Why did they bother with this inferior remake?