Martin, Elba going detective is surprisingly good (British cop shows, I find, are very inconsistent). I finished all but the last series in less than a week, largely because the recent discussion here persuaded me to try it.
Sometimes massive city-wide crises get resolved a little too quickly with some convenient "Idris knows the answer immediately" plotting and such, but it's still very solid stuff. His chum Ripley - much more than stock cop sidekick material - and the tremendously watchable Alice are big contributors to the show's quality.
"The bear is a solitary animal. They like their space. They live in a magic circle. They don't mind if you're, like, a mile away. But if you get inside their circle, they will maul you." -Anonymous
Do British cop shows ever have gun battles in them? Or do they just beat the perps into submission w/ billy clubs? That might be more entertaining, come to that.
Or should I have posted this in the Questions for the Brits thread?
I like the way the line runs up the back of the stocking.
Great question, Iggy, and just the place for it (although that other thread is a cracker, too!) I don't watch too many British cop shows, but they do tend to use guns quite sparingly. Weapons in general are a bit of a delicate issue, really.
At the risk of oversimplifying this, it probably stems - in many cases - from a desire to reflect our comparatively anti-gun culture. If shootouts and the like were to become too prevalent, the shows would probably face accusations of "Americanization" and risk losing viewers; it wouldn't accurately reflect the on-the-street reality of life in most British cities. Consequently, what constitutes a gun battle for a British cop show will probably feel a little restrained to most North American audiences.
British cop movies, however, seem to be getting more like their US counterparts in that respect.
"The bear is a solitary animal. They like their space. They live in a magic circle. They don't mind if you're, like, a mile away. But if you get inside their circle, they will maul you." -Anonymous
Kind of in the same boat re: Preacher. While I'm excited that a TV series is coming, I wish it would've been on something like HBO where they can go balls out like the comics did. I'm afraid the AMC version will be neutered on several levels (nudity, violence, cussing, etc. as well as whole storylines getting axed - I'll be amazed if they do anything with all the stuff that went on in Salvation).
I don't give a shit about Preacher. Read it, didn't change my life or anything. Only thing that would change my complete lack of interest in this is the casting of The Saint and Herr Starr. But even then, it's all a big novelty act at this point.
Last edited by Captain Russ; 11-19-2013, 09:39 AM.
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