To paraphrase Raymond Chandler, down those mean corridors a schoolboy must go who is not himself mean.
Based upon the bestsellers by Eoin Colfer, Half Moon Investigations is a gem of a show about a two teenagers running a detective agency in their secondary school.
Fletcher “Half” Moon (Rory Elrick) provides the brains, with former tormentor turned friend Red Sharkey (Seb Charles) bringing some brawn, attitude and streetwise moves to the operation. This week’s episode saw the pair on the trail of a text bully who was stealing students’ phones to send malicious and divisive messages.
From which school tribe would the culprit come? The Pinks? The Goths? Perhaps even The Nerds. Everyone was under suspicion.
Using a detective agency to investigate pertinent issues like bullying brings a fresh and quirky perspective to the slightly tired and traditional school drama. That Half Moon Investigations is also funny, clever and imaginatively filmed all adds to the programme’s appeal.
Most remarkable of all, the young cast is excellent. The majority of CBBC dramas are blighted by some degree of wooden acting, but Half Moon Investigations is virtually plank-free.
Unforgiven is a multi-layered and slow-burning three-part thriller about a convicted murderer released from prison after 15 years, and the consequences her new found freedom has for three seemingly unconnected families. It will, I strongly suspect, all end unhappily.
Suranne Jones gives a compelling, understated performance as Ruth Slater, once notorious as the teenage killer of two policemen, now tentatively finding her way around an outside world that is not only unfamiliar, but even more hostile than she realises. As she moves into a flat, and starts work in a meat factory, the sons of one of her victims are already intent on vengeance.
Atmospheric, intriguing and disturbing, Unforgiven is in no hurry to reveal its secrets and is all the better for it. The drama’s irresistible blend of melodrama, mystery and revenge, with a teasing suggestion of the supernatural thrown in for good measure, more than holds the attention.
Movie Connections wrings yet more mileage out of the Showbiz Family Tree format, this time casting a genealogical eye over the British film industry.
Summer Holiday was a canny choice of subject, as it is the kind of film everyone has an affection for, but can’t quite remember.
The anecdotes came thick and fast, the best ones arriving courtesy of Summer Holiday’s star Cliff Richard. Apparently the self-styled English Elvis missed his own premiere, having failed to breach an impenetrable throng of fans in Leicester Square, and ended up watching the event on the news.
Cliff, a disarmingly modest and self-deprecating interviewee, even confessed to crash-dieting prior to filming after hearing Minnie Caldwell on Coronation Street announce: “I love that chubby Cliff Richard, don’t you?”
Those involved in the production looked hale and hearty 40 years on, clearly on the same elixir of youth Cliff is. As for Summer Holiday the film, it looked barely watchable. The Beatles in Hard Day’s Night didn’t come along soon enough.
DETAILS
Half Moon Investigations - BBC1, Monday January 12, 4.35pm
Unforgiven - ITV1, Monday January 12, 9pm
Movie Connections - BBC1, Wednesday January 14, 10.45pm
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