Lynley

The tension in Elizabeth George's excellent Thomas Lynley books is provided by class antagonism between the two ambitious, intelligent, capable representatives of the London Cockney and the Oxford educated elite. Who find themselves stuck with the reality that they work very well together. Barbara Havers is as London Cockney as fish and chips or a London cabbie, Thomas Lynley is an Oxford educated elitist who has to explain constantly that he likes working, he's good at it, and he refuses to be a useless twit. So what do the producers do in the name of "updating" this excellent series? Barbara becomes an attractive young lady who would fit right into a Ballywood production; she even has that very Indian mannerism of rolling her big limpid brown eyes whenever she's feeling sarcastic. Barbara Habers in the books, and in the excellent PBS Masterpiece Theater production is a plump, fried food loving, heavy smoking, deeply resentful Cockney, not a South East Asian beauty queen. The whole premise, the most interesting part of the Lynley/Habers dynamic, is scrapped. Where was Elizabeth George?

This is an updated or modernized version of the original Inspector Lynley Mysteries by American novelist Elizabeth George. The original series played up the class differences between Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his assistant Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. It exists in this series but to a lesser extent, as Lynley is heir to an earldom, he isn't an earl. Lynley had a posh upbringing, is an Oxford University law graduate (Balliol College) and drives a classic Jensen Interceptor.

A lot of middle class students attend Oxford and Cambridge universities, more than in past times. The lead of this series Leo Suter is an Oxford University graduate. Commander Peter Loughborough who headed the Royalty Protection branch of London's Metropolitan Police (Met/Scotland Yard) was the 7th Earl of Rosslyn. He was said to be Queen Elizabeth II's favorite policeman.

This isn't a "Grace" or a "Vera", but it's good. No major flaws in the script and the characters are believable. The perceived class conflict between Lynley and Havers in the first episode along with Lynley's conflict with his boss DCI Nies over some unknown past event, is really enough. But then there is Havers reputation among her colleagues and her blow up with her former boss.

I like the casting of Leo Suter, Sofia Barclay and Danny Mays. Leo Suter is more than eye candy, he can act. Mays also plays a copper in the new film "The Thursday Murder Club". The shooting locations in Ireland look just like the English countryside. I look forward to viewing the rest of the series.

I've seen the original "Inspector Lynley" and thought it bordered on the unbelieveable because Lynley was so preposterously vain and dismissive of Havers. Yet this is what made the show fun and watchable The main characters played so well off of each other. In the new "Lynley" there is none of that chemistry. It is like two characters on opposite ends of a stage, each giving their own soliloquy. Plus Haver's voice in this re-imagining of the original is oddly high-pitched and annoying...and uninteresting. Which makes it very difficult to keep watching.