Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Martin Shaw, Lee Ingleby, Lisa McGrillis, Lucy Cohu, Poppy Lee Frair, Michael Socha, Simon Greenall, Lewis Reeves, Jack Deam, Dale Meeks, Ralph Ineson, Simon Hubbard, Jane Elizabeth Walsh, Jaqueline Philips, Anna Bolton, Nicholas Rowe, Rick Warden.

Having been shot at the end of the previous series, Detective George Gently isn’t pleased when he finds that the powers that be are working behind his back and trying to get him out of the way. The man who makes life difficult, not just for the criminals in the North East but also for every single policeman who comes between him and the truth, is being requested to take a promotion, or to be blunt to be put out of harm’s way, to be put out to grass and retired from what he does best. The same could be said for the dead union leader found in a small mining village in which the secrets of the past are still waiting to catch up with all who reside in the shadow of coal.

This was an episode in which worlds collided. Two seemingly impossible jobs, requiring dedication, skill and unbelievable courage; one to do the right thing at all costs, the other in which the pressure could result in a death nobody in their right mind could ever want to visualise. The parallels that existed between the two jobs were such that there may have been a sneaking admiration between the two before a massive wedge was driven between the two during the 1980s and one was suddenly turned inexcusably against the other.

With so much at stake for the coal mine and the village that was it outward appearing soul it was no wonder there was the immense feeling of claustrophobia throughout the episode, an impression of lack of space between all involved in the pit. This claustrophobia was measured, captured for all its glory by the writer and cast. None so more as Lucy Cohu, who was exemplary as Margaret Turner, the wife who sought solace in the arms of a young Bevan Boy whilst her husband was away fighting during World War Two. As the secrets of the pit began to make themselves known, this fine actress, who was sublime in Ripper Street, framed the whole world of the mining community in the desperate days of the late 1960s, a consummate performance, matched only by the two lead figures of the show.

In the last twenty years there have been some fine detective dramas, all of which have captured either the spirit of the times they are filmed in or the area that they represent, Morse, Ripper Street, Poirot to name but three, however the George Gently series has been constantly gritty, determined to show realistic policing in the North East of England at a time when much of what was allegedly graphic was happening in London. This final episode of the current series of George Gently is a piece of extremely well written drama and one that has captured the imagination.

Ian D. Hall