Apple TV+Ĭreated by Nancy Fichman and Jennifer Hoppe ( Nurse Jackie, Grace and Frankie), and Katie Ford ( Miss Congeniality), and directed by Jay Roach ( Meet the Parents), High Desert is a tale from the trippy end of the Los Angeles underbelly. ‘Moments of inspired chaos’: Rupert Friend and Patricia Arquette in High Desert. Already grappling with an estranged son, the recent demise of her mother (Bernadette Peters, appearing in visions), and a charming conman ex (Matt Dillon), Peggy inveigles her way into employment at Brad Garrett’s private detective agency and becomes embroiled in everything from art fraud to murder. Years later, Peggy is trying to kick methadone while playing a “saloon girl” at a Yucca Valley theme park called Pioneertown. Here, Patricia Arquette plays such a woman: lairy, perma-grifting Peggy, first seen having her family pool party busted for pot. There’s your standard-issue “hot mess” female character, then there’s your full-blown lady inferno. At times, Steeltown Murders is so slow it verges on standstill (even the moustaches start to droop) but overall it’s a sharply honed piece of drama, balancing suspense with respect and restraint.Īnother week, another big-budget, star-studded Hollywood streamer, courtesy of Apple TV+’s eight-part black comedy High Desert. Both versions of Bethell are well played (even if a search party is sometimes needed for Glenister’s Welsh accent), and a strong cast includes Aneurin Bernard and Priyanga Burford. There’s the de rigueur 70s period detail (nicotine-hued decor Brillo-pad sideburns), but it doesn’t overwhelm the pain and grief of the crimes. There’s your standard-issue ‘hot mess’ female character, then there’s your full-blown lady inferno He works out of the same office as in 1973 (a dusty crypt of rotting manilla folders), as if in penance for the unacceptable attitudes of previous eras. Glenister of course memorably portrayed chauvinist blowhard DCI Gene Hunt in Life on Mars, but here he’s dogged, moustachioed, subdued. Scott Arthur plays the 1973-era Bethell, who suspects they’re dealing with a serial killer. Philip Glenister plays 2002-era Paul Bethell, one of the original detectives put back on the case. Unfolding over two time zones in the Port Talbot area of Wales, it tells the story of the rape and murder of 16-year-olds Geraldine Hughes, Pauline Floyd and Sandra Newton, and how developments in DNA testing helped catch the perpetrator. Thankfully, the new four-part BBC One drama Steeltown Murders is from writer Ed Whitmore and director Marc Evans, who between them produced Manhunt and Rillington Place – both, in different ways, sterling examples of how to dramatise real-life tragedy without sensationalising or cheapening it. Oh wait, hang on, that happens all the time in the overstuffed, overheated true-crime genre.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |