The Black Tower

I am really a fan of the P.D. James stories that have been adapted for television. I find it hard to believe that "The Black Tower" has not been seen since it was originally shown on the PBS "Mystery" series.

It would be nice if they aren't going to show this again, putting it on DVD would be nice.

This six-part 287-minute presentation is my second introduction to P. D. James. Naturally, I had to buy the book. Naturally, the book is better. However, that is not to distract from the film that took the time to tell the story and keep you glued to the screen. I am continuing to discover a new favorite and intend to work my way through the balance of the films. I am watching in film order not book order.

Even with the length of time to present this story they had to cut corners. However, in places, it was like reading the book word for word. Yet, the film neglects to mention that Chief Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh is wealthy in his own right.

The story is sort of convoluted. There are quite a few characters and they all look guilty. It appears that everyone had an opportunity to do it. Chief Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh (Roy Marsden) has a way of making everyone confess and look right through you.

Inspector Adam Dalgliesh is recovering from a wound he got on duty. He is also depressed and thinking of giving up his job. A friend invites him to stay at a nursing home (Toyton Grange) and implies that there are some mysterious goings-on. Soon people are dying from too many convenient accidents.

O. K. For those of you that read the book you may find the end a tad different and a page short. But close enough for T. V.

Some of the scenery in East Anglia on the North Sea will rival the actors and story for your attention.

Toynton Grange, a place of healing, therapy, recovery, and murder. Adam is brought in by his old friend Father Baddeley to look into a strange death, and series of poison pen letters.

As a story, it's deep and intricate, it's very character driven, and is a perfect mystery for the mind of Dalgliesh to solve. Adam is troubled here, we see a different side to the normally robust figure, Marsden is excellent.

The pace is slow by today's standards, but deliberately so, that pace allows the characters and plot to develop nicely.

It gets better as it progresses, and develops well, it is a little padded in parts, but the final two episodes are worth the mid point lull.

Excellent performances all round, Martin Jarvis and Pauline Collins stand out equally for me.

PD James is so clever at drawing you into a web of structure, order, and everything being as it should be, but scratch the surface and all manner of secrets lay.

I thoroughly enjoyed it, 8/10.

This perfectly polished period piece does full justice to P D James' erudition and her beautifully honed cast of almost Dickensian characters. The dramatic scenery of Dorset provides the ideal setting for this complex and absorbing mystery. Roy Marsden portrays the detective poet, Adam Dalgliesh with his usual panache and is ably supported by fellow cast members. Those who have not read PD James' brilliant novels will not be able to guess the identity of the murderer until the last episode, despite the meticulous and perfectly timed trail of clues, interspersed with a plethora of red herrings, necessary to ensure the enjoyment of both crime buffs and novices to the genre.

One of the best of the series if not without flaws.

Most of the good points are those that make the series as a whole enjoyable: Roy Marsden's marvellous portrayal of Dalgliesh; interesting relationships, characters, and motives that turn out not to be what was first thought; an interesting situation (a curious care home driven by an ethos based on the religious conviction of its founder whose staff are as screwed up as the inmates) providing the enclosure that is essential for a good who dunnit; and atmospheric use of locations (the tower by the sea and the over-large country house cum care home).

Similarly the main weaknesses here occur in some other stories in the series: relatively little light and shade among the character set and (gloomy failures are fine but a few brighter, shallower characters would help to vary the dramatic palate); and little forensic science applied to the solving of murders (some of the series's murderers would be banged up in five minutes if Dr Laura Hobson got a look at the body).

The stand out performance after Marsden here is Pauline Collins as a boozy, rational, emotional, witty, sad, cheerful, deliciously sexy, loving, not-loving wife. Collins is an absolute mistress of controlling the pace and air of a scene and of giving a character three different believable faces within a few lines without a hint of trying.

Martin Jarvis also gives a deceptively multi-layered performance as the head of the care home; the part could easily have been written for him as it makes good use of his tortured whimsical air.

The ending is a little mundane but I can forgive that after a pretty gripping six episodes.

This is a beautifully-done piece of slow, thoughtful whodunnitism - a type of drama that is, sadly, no longer available on TV.