The Long Call

The Long Call is adapted from the first novel of a new series by Ann Cleeves (Shetland & Vera) so comes from a fine pedigree.

The show follows a gay male detective, (amazingly for the first time on UK TV) Matthew Venn as he returns to a strict evangelical community in Devon to attend his father's funeral before investigating a murder.

It was stylish but the direction was poor technically and trying too hard to be edgy it ended up being distracting. The scene in the first episode between Neil Morrissey and Pearl Mackie was bizzarely shot, you'd think they'd let a passerby have a go behind the camera...

Main problem though was that the lead actor Ben Aldridge was too ineffectual and bland, he spent most of his time standing still and thinking aloud with his hands in his designer trouser pockets. The story would have been better told in fewer episodes or over 90 minutes. The script was ponderous.

New detective shows do need time to bed in - and I do hope they get a second series to try and nail it. The ending was good and satisfying but sadly this series was very much style over substance and too slow. I can't blame the many viewers that abandoned ship.

I really, really tried to like this more but the boredom of the direction and script defeated me. The stationary camera fails to keep our eyes interested, despite some of the gorgeous scenery. Then there's a stony Ben Aldridge who fails to capture our empathy.

The makers of the show must've known there were problems: the music is far too intrusive and just as tedious as the dreary dialog. Music this gratuitous is usually used to compensate for an unremarkable script or tepid direction, both of which this series possesses.

There are moments of real plot movement here but they are far too rare. You become involved, then are brought back down by some dull religious or backstory dialog that prompts you to fast forward through the dreary talk.

By episode 3 I'd forgotten what the story was all about. The characters are like cardboard. Flat and totally without character. The speech is muffled and toneless. The plot is....don't really know, my brain was too bored to take it in.

What a complete waste of the ITV 9 o'clock slot.

And coming straight after Hollingdon Drive series! (another dreadful waste of time) ITV get your act together.

I read the book first. I'm glad some things were cut, however, some background was glossed over in the series which should have been emphasized.

The lead detective is too low key, even in the book. He lack the spark Vera has. It's like he's muddling through. The book had too much background on the character s private lives. The series does as well, although to a lesser degree. Mystery fans want a clever puzzle. The puzzle MUST be front and centre, not the private lives of the cops.

This is a new crime drama from the reigning queen, Ann Cleeves who has given us "Vera" and "Shetland", Vera is set in Northumberlandshire, Shetland on the islands and now The Long Call (TLC) on the north coast of Devonshire.

The cast for season one includes Ben Aldridge, Juliette Stevenson, Martin Shaw, Neil Morrissey, Alan Williams and many more, they are major actors and expect major parts and the acting is very good. Kudos to the casting director. I hope BAFTA looks at this series for awards.

It is a slow burn, it's not one solved case per episode but one case over four episodes. It's tough to maintain viewer interest and glad they released it over four nights. The creator and producers should look at whether one story over two episodes or one 90 minute episode works best for future seasons.

DI Matthew Venn is not DCI Vera Stanhope (Vera) or DI Jimmy Perez (Shetland), he's younger and university educated and works collaboratively with his team. Venn is new and some have commented that he needs to be stronger, but he was raised in a religious community where members listen a lot as his mother pointed out. DCI Stanhope and DI Perez started out rocky and developed their TV personas.

Some of the younger actors are trying to do a regional or other accent and it's not working, it comes across mumbly and not clear. I was hoping for subtitles to understand some of the dialogue. The Incident Room at the police station is too big, the staff get lost and the sound isn't consistent. In general Ben Aldridge is the easiest to understand.

The other is that British crime dramas get exported to other countries and the British are great for acronyms and they don't realize that the whole world doesn't understand their acronyms. Speaking and understanding English doesn't mean understanding all the police acronyms. Season 6, Episode 1 of the great series "Line of Duty" was full of so many Met Police acronyms that Esquire Magazine (US) put out a translation page. At one point DI Venn tells his staff to check with the FLO in the child death, FLO is a Family Liaison Officer, a police officer assigned to a family.

Matthew's morning swims I saw as an homage to the Italian series "Montalbano", where police Commissioner Salvo Montalbano is often seen swimming each morning in the Mediterranean near his home.

These are minor problems that can be resolved. I hope season 2 is more focused on the crimes and less on the families, Here's hoping it's renewed for many more seasons.