Into the Blue

Robert Goddard's splendidly crafted novel brought to the small screen. But Goddard must have been heartbroken to see how his work was changed for television production. John Thaw seems to struggle with a role for which he is completely miscast; and with the whole tenor of the plot changed for compression into a two hour format, this must be one of the more disappointing television adaptations of recent times.

A British expatriate living on the island of Rhodes investigates the mysterious disappearance of a woman with whom he has had a brief affair.

Outside of Morse, The Sweeney and Kavanagh I have found John Thaw as not very credible. In this he plays Joe Average and he is not convincing, neither is his affair with a girl young enough to be his daughter. It just looks embarrassingly wrong.

The storyline is convoluted and has a twist at the end that may have been original in 1997, but not in 2025.

This is one of those films where it might pay to remember the opening scene throughout. I completely forgot about it.

Harry, a man who's down on his luck, meets a beautiful young woman whilst house sitting in Rhodes, all is going well until she vanishes, and he's accused of her murder.

I wanted to see this after reading the book, and having only recently filmed it, I'd have to question how much of the book was adapted, it almost feels like an entirely different story.

If you're a fan of mysteries, and a fan of the late great John Thaw, I think you'll enjoy this, if you're looking for a faithful adaptation, you'll be sorely disappointed.

It had a great start, decent core, and a very confusing, but exciting ending. The conclusion was the only poor element for me, not all events were explained, it felt very vague and ambiguous.

Great location work, fine acting and some excitement. The acting was great I thought, and for me John Thaw was very well cast.

I enjoyed it, 7/10.

Apparently author Robert Goddard was not happy with the adaptation of his novel. It does seem clear to me that John Thaw was miscast, although this was a star vehicle for him.

The made for television movie starts with a flashback. A schoolboy finds a box from the railway line, it contained a baby.

In later years two women have been attacked and found dead.

In the the present day. Harry Barnett (Thaw) is house minding a property in Rhodes for politician Alan Dysart.

Harry is a failed businessman but Dysart has helped him out. Only Dysart was a government minister who had to resign over a scandal.

Now Harry is involved in a scandal of his own. A young woman called Heather Mallender bedded him and has now disappeared. Harry knows she was snooping about Dysart's house looking for something.

Harry returns to Britain to clear his name. He finds that Dysart had been involved with Heather's sister who was found drowned.

Maybe there is a dark side to Dysart, he seems to be involved with dodgy business dealings.

By the end the various plot elements all makes sense. It is just not that good.

While a bit of Inspector Morse comes through, Thaw pulls it off with a working class persona. We get to follow him through his investigation, and this is the most appealing type of mystery for me. Thaw's Harry Barnett is as tenacious as is his Morse (created by novelist Colin Dexter). Harry is driven mostly by two forces, his attempt to disprove his involvement in a disappearance of a woman and his lifelong relationship with a wealthy former politician, Alan Dysart. But the more questions he asks, the more questions arise about his longtime friend. The connection between the very beginning of the film and its ending works, provides an added twist (there is one right before the end as well), and brought the (film) story full circle, including the exchange of an important gift between two main characters (Barnett and Dysart), bound together through life experiences. You will not be disappointed.

As an author of mystery novels and an observer of the two industries (print & film), the media are so different that I often discount the "it did not follow the book" criticisms. Most viewers of the film never have nor ever will read the novel. We writers need to bank the movie checks and move on to the next book.