What Remains

When the decomposed body of Melissa Young is found by a couple in their new flat, Detective Len Harper who is approaching retirement is determined to discover what happened to her and why nobody noticed she was missing for so long.

This is really an old fashioned 'whodunnit.' The building is a house converted into 5 flats and nearly all the residents are not very nice people at all, some with some serious issues.

It is rather slow going, there is a lot of psychological games and this shows via flashbacks to their behaviour towards the victim who was an obese female.

The detective on his one last case before retirement is doggedly persistent and there is an air of a Gothic melodrama which the finale very much confirms as there are twists after twists as to who the culprit might be.

'What Remains' takes the classic Agatha Christie formula and updates it to the modern age: take a dead body, a house full of individuals all on the nasty end of normal, and a determined, dogged retired detective, and save the unveiling of the criminal to the final moments. In fact, whereas Christie's characters were generally thin, the characterisation is more convincing in this, although never truly surprising. The direction and acting are also highly competent, although the conclusion descends into (almost inevitable) silliness. Until that point, it's quite gripping, but also quite shallow: whatever remains, not that much lies beneath the surface.

At heart, What Remains is an updated version of the country-house who-dunnit, a woman is murdered in a house that's been converted into 5 flats, and it's assumed that one of the other residents did it.

There's few tangible clues as to what happened so there's little for forensics to do - this is not CSI/Silent Witness. Instead the clues lie in the psychology and relationships of the residents - it's a bit Stephen Poliakoff in the way they're all prisoners of their pasts. So it explores the relationships of the suspects in a depth that you wouldn't normally see from Miss Marple.

Then on top of that you've got a few classic horror-movie buttons being pushed (not altogether successfully) and the hangdog detective working past his retirement date on just one last case. "You've all given up on finding the murderer, we owe it to this girl to find out what happened". It's a cliché because it works.

I can see why some people find the first half a bit slow, it's deliberately meant to be "static" and a bit claustrophobic with the vast majority of the action happening within the house. It maybe helped that I recorded it and watched the whole thing in one sitting, so didn't have a week to think about how little had apparently happened in any one episode.

On the other hand there's a few sub-plots in the middle that don't move the plot forward at all, they're just there so Giedroyc can expand his theme of loneliness in the city. It feels a bit self-indulgent when some of the residents' stories are left hanging at the end, either because he didn't know where to go or 20 minutes got left on the cutting room floor, it would be more satisfying if they had been resolved. I suppose it says something that you do care enough to want to know how things work out for them.

So this is not a show for people looking for car chases and shootouts. Personally I preferred Jane Campion's Top of the Lake which the BBC aired in the same slot a few weeks before. But if you've run out of Scandinavian detective box-sets to watch then this is a decent enough way to spend an evening.

I agree with a few other reviewers about the especially-twisting last segment. Stressful, laid it on a bit thick, but that did not diminish my enjoyment of the show. My strongest reaction to that was, we humans sure can miss a lesson (I think I can write this without being a spoiler): the new mix of tenants toward the end actually does what the first mix was so bummed about - not looking out for their neighbors.

I liked the acting, the characterization, the story. I happen to be reading about observation skills the last few weeks... working on perception bias (is what you first thought really a clear read on the situation), and this show ended up being a great lesson on that! Almost every scenario is at least a bit different than you would think on the outside. So, bravo on that.

I recommend a viewing for those who like the twisty mystery without excessive violence or ugliness!

DCI Len Harper, is due to retire, his last case, the death of Melissa Young, who has laid dead for two years in the too flat in a curious house.

I would suggest it feels very Ruth Rendell, this could easily have been one of her books. It's quite a bleak story, with an incredibly dark conclusion.

Not a House in would want to live in, all the residents are liars and monsters. Literally each room contains a cheat, liar or bully.

David Threlfall is terrific throughout, very strong performances from Russell Tovey, Indira Varma and David Bamber.

It deals with love, loathing, domestic abuse, and many other human ills.

A true house of horrors, it's very, very good, 9/10.