The Runaway

What a great series. I wish we had this kind of great work on this side of the pond. I became a fan of Max Irons recently so I started watching his films. Being a young up and coming actor (son of Jeremy Irons and Sinead Cusack-double powerhouse genes there), I gave the series a go. From the first episode I was hooked. It has opened me up to another fast rising mega star in the making, Jack O'Connell. Runaway is a bit of everything, edgy writing, intrigue, romance, crime, drama, murder, gangsters, bombs and drag queens. Who can go wrong with that lineup. Leading the charge is the ever awesome, Mardi Gras and New Years wrapped into one actor Alan Cummings. LOVE HIM. This role was written just for him because no one could have done it justice. For only 6 episodes it keeps you hanging on to every luscious minute. It is well worth a weekend Binge watch.

I saw the same authors The Take and it was worth watching. But this really not very good. I recommend The Long Firm,He Kills Coppers or Our Friends In The North if you want to see a 1960 London set tv drama. The writer sells millions of books and good luck to her but the story is cliched and fairly predictable. It was filmed in South Africa and that explains the fake feeling of the whole thing. Cheaper to film in places like that but they just don't have the experience. I get no feeling that anybody involved has a feel for the period,unlike the series I already mention and the more recent Endeavour. Alan Cummings performance is the best thing in this,I say that as somebody who does not like him usually.

But it quickly went downhill from there. I made it through all episodes, but the story failed to engage me. The main leads act well, but they just don't have a decent plot to work with, and some of the scenes are really poor. Apart from the young girl who plays Cathy's daughter, the other characters are unpleasant in varying degrees, and the violence is extreme. Filling up the time with repeated flashbacks looked really amateurish.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Opening in 1960s London, this six part tale tells the story of Eamonn (Jack O' Connoll) and Cathy (Joanna Vanderham), whose parents, a drunk and a prostitute, were lovers when they were children, and this forged a friendship between them, until circumstances drove them apart, and Eamonn ended up killing a rival boy in a gang fight and Cathy was spared prison by a corrupt detective (Burn Gorman) after killing an abusive client of her mother's. She ends up escaping from a tough girl's institute and ends up back in London, in Soho where she's taken under by kindly cross dresser Desrae (Alan Cumming) while Eamonn starts working for, and then has to flee from, local villain Danny Dixon (Keith Allen.) When he falls in with the IRA, it sets the two on a deadly reunion that ends up having explosive consequences.

Raw and unflinching drama seems to be the order of the day at the moment with British drama, especially so with television drama, which also refuses to let go of what was always it's stranglehold trademark of being as bleak and depressing as possible. Moving about with camcorder fluidity from the darkest corners of society to the seedy out in the open stuff on the surface, The Runaway tells a dark and harsh tale that occasionally saves it's soul with flashes of the tender love story at it's heart, that is essentially the driving force behind it all. It would never have worked as a feature film, far too long and sprawling, and so it receives the appropriate format in this six part adaptation that manages to keep the drama, for the most part, on an even keel. Inevitably, though, with such long source material, if you don't manage to stay disciplined with repeated viewings, sometimes it's hard to keep track of it all, with so much happening so quickly. A shame, since it's all so driven and slick, style and flair being the order of the day.

Performances wise, rising star O'Connoll in the lead role shows a further depth and range, but trying to apply a cockney twang to his northern dialect does make him sound strange. The likes of Allen and Cumming are well cast in their respective roles, while less heard ofs like Vanderham and Gorman also manage to be part of the driving force. It's a brutal, hard hitting piece but it's length and scope inevitably drag it out and sometimes makes it lose it's narrative flow. ***

Although Martina Cole always spins a good tale, this series was somehow still a surprise package for me - so many things can and often do go wrong with an adaptation from a good novel, so I avoided watching The Runaway for some time.

After a fairly tentative start, it remains absorbing to the end. The characters are raw and flawed, in a violent and unforgiving environment, but most nevertheless manage to invoke a big measure of empathy and/or sympathy from the viewer. I was left wondering whether people like those in the story really did rule the London underworld in the 60s.

Outstanding acting from everyone in the cast - notably Jack O'Connell whose charm and menace are totally convincing in equal parts. Alan Cumming is brilliant as Desiree, while Joanna Vanderham moves through the age changes and develops beautifully as the series progresses.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys quality British drama.