all the better to disappoint you with

So, I'm back. Hurrah. Being without a broadband connection for a couple of weeks has taught me that I am utterly reliant on the web to do just about everything, which is just where they want us I guess. I'm not sure who 'they' are, I've gone all conspiratorial. It must be the Red Riding Trilogy which started just before I disappeared.

If you actually listened to me and watched it, and the following two feature length episodes, then I would like to apologise. Six hours is a long time. That's kind of the point, that's what television can do that films can't; take the time to tell the story in a unique way. However, if it doesn't use that time in a way which leaves you feeling that your investment paid off then it all feels a bit, well, Northern Rock. I still think the first part was really interesting and above all promising but I'm afraid parts two and three didn't deliver for me. There was an interesting atmosphere of paranoia during the period of the Yorkshire Ripper's crimes, and it was shot and acted beautifully throughout but as it wore on it seemed to get more and more conventional. The desperate tying together of loose ends in the final section was particularly unsatisfactory. I could have gone for a bit more ambiguity, in fact I thought that might have been the point but instead we were treated to evil coppers, 'this is the north, where we do what we like' repeated about fifteen times and the wheeling out of some trusty paedophiles to round things off.

I'm only disappointed because it all promised so much more. Never mind. Back to watching the latest spirit-sapping reality TV programme.