Quirke

I recently discovered this hidden gem on Britbox in the US. It's well-written, has a great cast, and is gritty without being overly cynical. Gabriel Byrne as pathologist, is offbeat and troubled, but never descends into the narcissism of so many post-House medical characters.

The wonder of Quirke as that they only made 3 episodes. To be sure, the episodes are long, around 90 minutes each. That said, there were many untapped story lines left to be explored in this series. It's a pity that they didn't extend it. It's well worth the watch.

Someone said I should post my comment as a review, so here goes...

There are so many procedurals,and cop shows out there,doing the same thing over and over again. This is not one of those regular TV- shows. Crime plays a part of course, but more than that, this is a series that is driven by character development. For each crime we also delve deeper into Quirke's family relations and history. There is a logical development in the way the story is built,so that the plots of the different episodes combine into a whole. And consequences are far from as clean cut, as it would have been in an ordinary cop-show.

I have tremendous respect for Gabriel Byrne and Michael Gambon as actors, and I think this material may well have provided the foundation for some of the best acting of their career. The supporting cast is also uniformly excellent, and that nearly all actors in this series is Irish, also makes it that much more convincing.I enjoyed the mood set by the music,and the portrayal of the era. From Smoke-filled streets and bars, to the clothes they use, the cars they drive, and all the small details that make up this wonderful mini-series.

The new BBC drama 'Quirke' takes us into postwar Ireland - seedy, drunken, dominated by the twin evils of the church and the wealthy and corrupt. It's a somewhat clichéd view, made palatable by the series' muted tone, although at times in the first episode I struggled to follow the softly spoken dialogue and relatively (for a murder drama) understated plot. Unlike many such series, there's an overall narrative as well as individual stories; the fact that Quirke's niece has a separate, personal connection to all three murders reduces the overall plausibility. The cast is an impressive one, but the scripts don't really call on them to do anything extraordinary; the detail with which their characters' feelings are observed is often weaker than its symbolic depiction (endless booze and cigarettes). To me, 'Quirke' fell between two stools: too low-key and gloomy to be fun family entertainment, but not truly deep either.

Quirke is an excellent miniseries. Hence, I can't believe all the low ratings and bad reviews of Quirke. I don't normally post reviews on IMDB; in fact, this one may be my first. But the naysayers prompted me to action.

Quirke is brooding. Atmospheric. Serious drama with more than one plot line. Excellent acting performances are delivered by Gabriel Byrne, Nick Dunning, Aisling Franciosi and others.

Perhaps thoughtful, serious drama isn't for everyone. But Quirke shouldn't be panned because of it. I highly recommend this drama and only wish there had been additional series produced.

Everything I have seen with Gabriel Byrne has been first-class, including his terrific work in USUAL SUSPECTS, in which the audience was misled into believing he was the kingpin, Keizer Szoze. In this short (3 chapter) series, he is Chief Pathologist Quirke in post-WW2 Dublin, dealing with some unusual cases and troubled family relations. At the Center of the conflict is his pretty teen daughter, Phoebe, who was raised by his brother & wife when Quirke's wife died in childbirth. The daughter is informed of this only in Episode 1,,which creates anger & conflict. Other sad events push Quirke into heavy drinking from time to time. We pull for him anyway.

In episode 2, a villain seduces Phoebe AND a young married woman, for nefarious purposes. Sadly, the actor in this role, Lee Ingleby, is already the object of widespread disdain due to his work as a self-centred DCS in the old Inspector Friendly series. I keep telling folk on Twitter that it's just good acting, but Lee will not improve his public image with his role here-a pure cad.

The entire cast is excellent is this quiet 'period piece'. Highly-recommended.