The Crow Road

Brian Elsley's enormously commendable adaptation of Iain Banks' brilliant but seemingly unfilmable complex novel benefits from a witty, beautifully literate script and a strong cast, spearheaded by an immensely charismatic Joe McFadden as Prentice, the young Scot with the large, quirky circle of family and friends who gradually unravels a web of dark secrets. Bill Patterson is also worthy of note as the story-weaving, staunchly aetheist father, and the whole is a gripping, quietly stunning example of just how good BBC drama serials can be.

This has to be one of the most impressive pieces of drama ever to come out of Scotland. Outside of the long running series 'Taggart'(which had a very similar visual approach to 'The Crow Road')and the films 'Trainspotting','Shallow Grave', 'Small Faces' and 'Local Hero' there is nothing Scottish i can think of which equals it for quality(some might say 'Gregory's Girl' but i was never to fond of that myself).The story is somewhat complicated but it is brilliantly put together. I also have to say that i have never read the novel so the adaption is very user friendly and by the look of the other reviews it has pleased fans of the original text aswell.The only problem i felt was with the ending which i thought just seemed to smooth and cleared everything up too well. But on the whole this is a minor criticism. It is strange to think that i first saw this 6 years ago, when it was first screened by the BBC. Its also somewhat sad that the careers of perhaps the dramas two most outstanding performers, Joe McFadden and Valerie Edmund, haven't gone anywhere since as it seemed at the time that both were set for stardom. Howerever Dougray Scott, who had a somewhat minor role as Prentice's older brother, has gone on to much bigger things including being Tom Cruise's nemesis in Mission Impossible:2.

I remember watching a tape of "The Crow Road" lying on a sofa in some friends' flat on a New Year's Day in Edinburgh in the late Nineties and being captured by the whole "feel" of the mini series. Everything seemed to work beautifully: the cast (including actors who shot to fame later like Dougray Scott), the story (a brilliant family tale/coming-of-age/detective story), the setting... Unfortunately, my friends hadn't taped the end of the series, but luckily there was a BBC video out that I got a few weeks later in addition to reading the book at the first possibility. Every year, I make sure that I watch the mini series at least once, because it is the best adaptation of the many brilliant books by Iain Banks.

My wife bought me this for Xmas and we've just finished watching it again. As something of a perfectionist when it comes to adaptations of books I have read (Starship Troopers anybody), I have to say that this one tops the list. If I have to criticise it at all, I'd only say that I'd expected Prentice and Ashley to both be blond. Suffice it to say that this is the only fault I can find both with an exceptional adaptation and a fine set of performances by the whole cast in general and Joseph McFadden in particular.

At first I only watched this because of the impressive use of the landscape of the west coast of Scotland, and area I'd toured earlier that year. However, I was soon pulled irresistibly into the complex, detailed storyline. Be warned - this story probably isn't good for anyone who can't keep track of several plots running concurrently. While the flashbacks can sometimes be confusing, they add so much to the story.

The acting is also wonderful. All the characters come to bright, shining life from their first appearances.

And let's face it, how many stories begin with the words "It was the day my Grandmother exploded"?