Thu 6 Aug 2009
A TV Series Review by Geoff Bradley: GEORGE GENTLY (2008).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[4] Comments
GEORGE GENTLY. BBC1, 2008. Martin Shaw [Inspector Gently], Lee Ingleby [DS John Bacchus], Simon Hubbard [PC Taylor]. Based on the novels and characters created by Alan Hunter. Screenwriter: Peter Flannery.
Following the pilot episode “Gently Go Man” (8 April 2007), we recently have had two more stories (each 90 minutes, no adverts) both based on the Gently series by Alan Hunter:
“The Burning Man” (13 July 2008) based on Gently Where the Roads Go (1962) and “Bomber’s Moon” (20 July 2008) based on the book of the same title (1994).
The Gently books (of which I’ve only read one, Gently With Love (1974), which didn’t do much for me) ran from 1955 to 1999 and were mainly set in East Anglia, which is where I was brought up. (Indeed I keep meaning to read the second in the series, Gently by The Shore (1956), since it is set in the fictitious “Starmouth” which I believe is the actual Great Yarmouth where I was living in 1956, aged eleven.)
Hunter himself ran a second hand bookshop in Norwich (some 20 miles away) and may well have been the man who found me a copy of Sax Fohmer’s second Fu Manchu book, The Devil Doctor around that time.
Anyway back to the series, which is set in the sixties (so we have the strange situation of a 1994 book being set back some 30 years) and in the North East of England (far away from East Anglia in both distance and character).
I have to say that I didn’t find these stories particularly interesting and the characters of Gently (played by Martin Shaw) and ambitious young sidekick DS John Bacchus (Lee Ingleby) were rather marred for me as they both came over as unlikeable, though I’m not sure that was the intention.
Overall a disappointing outcome for a series that I was hoping would be better.
August 6th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
I read the Gently books off and on, but never really got into the series. Some I remember better than others, but over all my memories were favorable but nothing special. Still, Martin Shaw isn’t really the Gently I had in mind reading them. Sorry to hear the series isn’t better.
August 6th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
I bought the first season of the Gently series on DVD last month. Barnes & Noble had a special sale of buy 2 get one free all month long, and I went back several times.
Perhaps I’m lucky that I haven’t read any of the books, so Martin Shaw fits my picture of Gently about as well as anyone, though my general picture of him is as an English “Maigret.”
Am I close? Either way, I’m starting with a blank slate. Whether they moved the location of the stories — and filmed them in Ireland, as I understand? — I’m sure I couldn’t tell if they did or not.
I’ll report back, one of these days.
— Steve
August 7th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
The Gently books got better as they went along, though they reached a certain point and stagnated.
I think after a critic compared him to Simenon, Hunter took it to heart and made Gently into more of a Maigret type — especially in some books, but there is a good deal of attempting to make the business with the police more American too that doesn’t always jog with the Maigret stuff.
And as for Martin Shaw, it may just be him. I didn’t much like him as Adam Dalgliesh either. His screen persona seems to be awfully dour and unlikable, which at least fits Gently, who for all his Maigret-like qualities, lacks the essential humanity that makes Maigret a compelling creation.
If I’m going to read pseudo-Maigret I’d much rather read Nicholas Freeling or Sjowall and Wahloo, both of whom do something different with the basic Simenon setup. As for British cops, Gently is no Gideon, Morse, Purbright, or Martineau. Though to be fair there are some good books along the way in the series.
August 7th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Talk about obscure British police detectives, Maurice Proctor’s Inspector Martineau is about as forgotten as they come.
I started to read one of his books once but didn’t get far. I don’t recall why, but if you or anyone else can tell me that I should, David, then maybe I’ll give him another try.