Stonemouth

Stonemouth is an adaptation of Iain Banks penultimate novel. It's the first to be televised since The Crow Road. Like The Crow Road it has a dark undercutting and plenty of flashbacks as well as on screen narration.

Christian Cooke is Stewart Gilmour, returning to Stonemouth. A fictional port town for the funeral of his childhood friend Callum Murston who committed suicide and who helped Stewart out as a child when a mentally deranged boy ran amok with a sword.

Callum's father, Don Murston (Peter Mullan) a local crime boss and his two other sons had chased Stewart out of town five years earlier for messing around with his daughter Ellie.

Stewart has been allowed back in to attend the funeral and is expected to scamper back to London fast. However Stewart is suspicious of the death and decides to ask uncomfortable questions. He also gets together with Ellie thus incurring the wrath of the Murston's.

Stonemouth the town is like a place from the wild west. It is run by Don Murston and his two sons are his lackeys and enforcers. The sons are referred to at one point as the Chuckle Brothers, seemingly incompetent and lacking in brain cells. No wonder then that someone else is easily manipulating them.

I could never get over why they were so upset that Ellie who we see snorting cocaine and is caught fooling around with Stewart is expected to be so pure and kept away from boys. She is a good looking lady and Stewart is supposed to be Don's Godson.

The two part series had an interesting set up. Plenty of good looking actors but not much cop in the acting stakes. For that you rely on the older cast members. The second episode got a bit silly. It relied too much on coincidence, luck and people doing stupid things. It all felt underwhelming and undercooked.

The Crow Road although a longer serial was better.

Stonemouth

Reasonably good drama set in Scotland, I can quite put my finger on why it isn't better.

Its lack of narrative drive probably rests in the weakness of the crime and the weakness of the investigation and it just descended into a kitchen sink, soap like morass.

The actors were good but the script banal.

When the British get crime drama right, no one does it better, and this is an excellent example

Christian Cooke really is pretty though. I can't tell if it was the dialogue or the acting that was the problem of if it was the pretty people who made it feel so soapy but it was pretty bad if somewhat exciting at a couple points.

This is a "Top-notch" show! I really enjoyed this series and how it unfolded. I wish it was longer than 2 episodes. I will have to read Iain Banks novel and perhaps his other novel "The Crow Road".

The actors Christian Cooke (Stewart Gilmour), Charlotte Spencer (Ellie Murston), Kevin Mains (Fraser Murston), Jack Greenlees (Norrie Murston), Chris Fulton (Ferg), Naomi Battrick (Grier Murston), Brian Gleeson (Powell Imrie), and, Samuel Robertson (Callum Murston) were portrayed excellently and so believably.

Not to mention how handsome the lead actor (Christian Cooke) with his piercing blue eyes are, and lets not forget to mention the supporting male cast as well (Chris Fulton, Samuel Robertson).

Now the relationship that you see between Ellie and Stewart through the flashbacks is nice to see(it lets you know how they got to where they are in the present). Also, Stewart's relationship with his friend's Ferg and *Cal(whom Stewart came back to Stonemouth his childhood home to be at *his funeral).

I feel that it's a story based on secrets and lies that are behind the death of Stewart's best friend Callum, which prompts him to come home two years later after being chased away.

You can sense a little tension in the air between the Murtson's and the MacAvett's; plus the way the father & brother's of Ellie (Don Murston, Norrie Murston, and Fraser Murston) feel towards Stewart returning home after two years.

Will Stewart be able to find out what happened to his best friend before it's too late?