Unnatural Causes

Adam Dalgliesh returned to the TV screens two years after the curious misfire of Devises and Desires in a brand new format - the feature length mystery - for this adaptation of P. D. James' early novel Unnatural Causes. But almost immediately it becomes apparent that you cannot condense a series that was a multi episode format into a 1hr 44mins one off mystery and what comes across in the finished article is a rush job with little attempt at depth in character or substance. And it's a shame because the plot outline - about a mystery writer who ends up dead in a boat in the sea with his hands cut off - sounds rather intriguing.

To outline the premise, mystery novelist Maurice Seton is spotted in a casino in London taking photographs and notes of people at the gambling tables there. The owner, a shady character by the name of L. J. Luker, takes exception to this and has him ejected, only to find that he has gone off with the incriminating film. The next morning a boat comes bobbing to shore in Southwold in Suffolk with the said dead Seton, minus his hands, which has been mail ordered to Luker (nice to know at least the Post Office could do deliveries smoothly back then, though Luker is non too appreciative of this, unfortunately). If it was to prevent identification, why not remove the head? And why is he floating in a boat to begin with? I can't imagine he'd be doing much fishing without his hands. By sheer coincidence Dalgliesh is investigating Luker's shady deals with the Japanese and decides that as Seton was seen at the casino then there must be a connection and shoots down there to join the Suffolk police on the case. The police, led by Inspector Reckless (yes, really), are remarkably reasonable about this, but Dalgliesh is in for a shock when the toxicology report tells him the deceased died of a heart attack and that his hands were cut off hours later, making the case even more perplexing than it is already. Thing is, was his end met by the crooked casino boss, or is it the local residents who Dalgliesh must look for among the suspects, who all seemingly have reason to give him a Viking sendoff.

If I have made this sound intriguing, then sadly the result is less auspicious. The opening scenes involving the casino, with quick cuts to residents in Southwold watching literally critic Oliver Latham on the TV, make the opening 15/20 mins rather confusing at first, as you wonder just where the connection actually is between the seedy London casino and the seaside charm of Southwold and it's somewhat eccentric residents. It takes about half an hour before it settles down to become a reasonable murder mystery of what we are accustomed to, but it's running length is such that there is no build up to establish the characters or to set up the scene so we can know the victim better before he meets his demise. That was something of the appeal of the previous format of P. D. James mysteries and while the screenwriter would of struggled to make this stretch to 6 episodes, at least half would of been possible with some imagination. As it is we have a host of suspects whose characters range mainly from caricature to camp - yes, P. D. James' recurring theme of homosexuality in her novels pops up again (though no brother-sister relationships this time), though it isn't just the gay character who is camp in this. While James Cossins' character Justin Bryce is clearly gay, he is less camp than Bill Nighy's portrayal of literally critic Oliver Latham. Nighy, like so many of the cast, seems to go into theatrical mode here, and Cossins' waspish Bryce is far more nuanced than Nighy's foppish critic. Marjie Lawrence is not much better as Celia Calthorp, and while Simon Chandler is decent enough as Digby Seton, brother of the deceased who stands to inherit his brother's fortune if only he marries, and Anne Lambton is okay as the disabled Sylvia Kedge, she is a little overwrought at times. The only one who adds any freshness is Lucy Briers, here cast against type as the teenage Elizabeth Marley, whose youth and amusing demeanor adds vitality to proceedings and makes you regret that she was soon lumped into dowdy roles as plain Janes in such roles as Pride and Prejudice just a couple of years later.

Another strange edition is the reappearance of Mel Martin as Deborah Riscoe, who pops up here 8 years after her appearance in Cover Her Face, now dating Dalgliesh. What happened in those 8 years, where Dalgliesh in that time was also breaking off a relationship with Sheila Ruskin (in The Black Tower) and interested in Susannah York's character in Devises and Desires just two years ago? Has he been playing the lothario all this time? Surely not! And I can't imagine Deborah Riscoe would be so understanding as to settle for an "open relationship", so why now have the writers brought her back? It's not that Riscoe's presence isn't welcome, as Mel Martin at least gives a performance of depth and realism to proceedings, plus it's nice to see Dalgliesh so happy for much of this mystery. It's just smacks of laziness by the writers who seemed to think by just bringing back an old character would make viewers forget some of this adaptation's shortcomings. Instead it just feels odd, and an excuse to fill time on a somewhat sparse mystery by having Deborah becoming tired of Dalgliesh's commitment to the job (ah, that old chestnut) and giving him an ultimatum on just who he values more. I think I can guess where this is leading...

Once it gets past it's confusing opening it is not a bad mystery, and it does have a memorable climax where Dalgliesh finds himself trapped in a house during a storm that is quite spectacular. But it's feature length format just doesn't suit the P. D. James mysteries and gives no time or depth to establish things, while too many of the cast play for cheap caricatures rather than the more considered portrayals in the 1980's. And because of it's format, it loses one of the key ingredients in a P. D. James adaptation - the sense of atmosphere and foreboding. Despite there being three deaths, plus an attempt on another's life, you never feel fear for their lives - mainly because most of the characters are so theatrical as you couldn't really care about their fate. And when Dalgliesh finally discovers who the killer is, it is because one of the suspects tells him and the reason why, rather than Dalgliesh figuring it out for himself or discovering some clue. While it certainly isn't the worst of the P. D. James adaptations - that was soon to come with A Mind To Murder the following year - it's a sad reflection on how by trying to "modernize" a tried and trusted format for the 1990's the writers instead made it lose the thing that made P. D. James adaptations so absorbing in the 1980's; it's ability to involve audiences in proceedings and play detective throughout it's in-depth format. With this mystery, we are merely bystanders just watching on the sidelines as events flit by.

Once again, like "A Mind to Murder", the writers chose to bypass PD James and make up their own version of the story. In the book, a famous mystery writer is found dead in the bottom of a dinghy on the Suffolk coast with both of his hands chopped off. Adam is on holiday there visiting his Aunt Jane and having to make a decision about his relationship with Deborah Riscoe. He gets involved simply as a spectator because his aunt is one of the suspects. He and the investigating officer , aptly called Inspector Reckless, don't like each other right off and even with the same clues, AD is able to figure out the murder method and the Inspector is not. His only reference to Deborah Riscoe in the book is a letter (and poem) he writes her but never mails and then he receives one from her. The movie version has totally done away with the Aunt, brought Deborah to the country and visiting Adam while he is on the case, getting attacked by the murder suspect and finally coming to her decision about the two of them with her boss. It has lost all the momentum of the novel but did retain the storm scene where Adam is almost killed/drowned..

Now, I am not suggesting you shouldn't watch this story, on the contrary, Roy Marsden is , as always, a class act as Dalgliesh. Just don't expect the same level of suspense as the book. Do the screenwriters ever read the book first or do they make up stuff as they go along?

A handless corpse in a small boat and a long-ago death figure into the plot of "Unnatural Causes". The story has about the right number of suspects. The ending was a surprise to me; I had guessed the murderer to be a different person.

In this whodunit story by mystery writer P.D. James, the inevitable comparison is to the works of Agatha Christie, whose stories run the gamut from fairly good to brilliant. There are plenty of red herrings and plot twists in "Unnatural Causes", which may help to explain how I got the killer wrong. The two authors thus compare favorably in terms of plots. The script does a good job of identifying character names except for Dalgliesh's girlfriend.

On the other hand, although I found Adam Dalgliesh (Roy Marsden) to be sufficiently intellectual, he was less interesting and less quirky than a Hercule Poirot or other Christie police character. I did not care for the romantic subplot between Dalgliesh and his girlfriend. The girlfriend character I did not like at all. The subplot seemed distracting and intrusive to the murder mystery.

Prod design and costumes are acceptable, especially given that this is a made-for-TV movie. But sound quality was not all that great. At the end, the killer's explanation largely escaped me because the person either mumbled their script lines; or more likely, ambient sounds were too loud relative to the dialogue.

"Unnatural Causes" will generally appeal to viewers who enjoy whodunit mysteries. I'm not one to downgrade a film just because it doesn't conform precisely to the book on which it is based, though some people will. Overall, I would rate this film at least average, or maybe slightly above, for its genre.

As noted by other reviewers, Unnatural Causes doesn't follow the book. This partly because the sequence has been shot out of order. The previous serial, Devices and Desires, had already killed off Aunt Jane, which removed the ostensible reason for Dalgiesh's presence.

For the first time, Dalgliesh is cut down to a single movie, an improvement on the six-part format of Devices and Desires, which was impeccably acted and intelligently scripted, but in which Dalgliesh bizarrely played no active part. Here, he is back in the centre of the action, leading the deductions as well as some very physical manoeuvres. Things move at a lick - and even better, unlike the previous serial, the plot hangs together and virtually (but not quite) everything is explained.

It's not all plain sailing, however. Roy Marsden's wig starts to develop its own independent characteristics, even hinting at a slight punk sensibility in the later stages. And Mel Martin is called upon to reprise her thankless role as the fruity but tedious girlfriend joining Dalgliesh in Suffolk - again going against the book - being menaced, finding bodies, having moods and generally getting in the way.

I've started Rewatching the series, and it's been many years since I've seen them.

I am quite impressed by the production values, it's nicely shot, well acted, good camera work and nicely edited. It's a good story, though completely different to the original text.

The House in the water scene was the most memorable part of this one, technologies etc change go much with time, but I think this holds up reasonably well, it is twenty seven years after all.

Some of the characters are a little cliché ridden, such as Justin, but all perform well, Cossins, Nighy are all good. Annie Lambton steals it for me as Sylvia.

I wasn't so fussed on Adam's relationship with Deborah, I couldn't quite buy into that as a thing.

Watchable, 6/10.