The Fellows

Literate, stylised, ambitious series from Robin Chapman in which criminologists Richard Vernon (older, suave, upper class, conservative, public school) and Michael Aldridge (younger, choleric, upwardly mobile, radical, Northern boy made good) spar with each other about theories of crime and society, while interfering at a distance with real-world criminal activity. Their philosophical musings and SCR witticisms in Cambridge are juxtaposed with the crooked action in the mean streets of England's industrial cities. Their ideas about transgression, money, conformity etc. contrast with the way these concepts play out in real-world criminal situations. They never meet their opponents, but somehow have a budget to use the police to study and interfere with the crooks' activities.

The conceit is amusing, but the implementation doesn't really work. The dons are more often irritating than dazzling, and they never really achieve anything in their investigations. Their theories don't illuminate the crooks' schemes or plans, and too many of the ideas go nowhere. It needed either to become even more intellectual and refined, or alternatively to go further in the direction of traditional thick ear, like Chapman's own (still quite stylised) Big Breadwinner Hog. This is pitched at an intermediate level, that all too often leaves the viewer thinking "what was all that for?"

I came into this series with some expectation having enjoyed the somewhat quirky hit that was The Man in Room 17 - not least because it reunited Richard Vernon's Oldenshaw with the wonderful Michael Aldridge's Dimmock (who departed after the 1st series). The duo have now reloctaed to Cambridge University, where their job is to research organized crime, and how in an ever changing world the very nature of crime would change. Helping them in their research is the young Mrs Hollinczech (Jill Booty, wife of series writer Robin Chapman), while Thomas Anthem (James Ottaway) came in as a porter to clean up and occasionally offer his opinion.

However, unlike The Man in Room 17, where the duo were given crimes to solve from their rooms, here they mainly pontificate about crime and the various organized criminals on their books. And that's it. The first episode is especially bad, boring beyond belief as it takes nearly half an hour for the duo to meet up and set the scene before the episode's story takes place. And here's the other factor. In The Man in Room 17 they would be self contained cases. In The Fellows sometimes plotlines or characters will spill into future episodes, but rarely will they be concluded even in later episodes. In the first case "Arson", for example, an organized criminal called Nashe (Michael Turner) buys a factory that has been over insured and then burns it down to claim compensation. A nightwatchman dies in the fire, but nobody is even charged. Nashe returns in a later episode and yet more innocent people die, but yet again he gets away with it and leaves the country. And that is much the theme for nearly all the episodes. While Oldenshaw and Dimmock debate about different crimes and the morality on the ways they police it, they rarely have any impact on the stories that play out. One episode is entirely of the duo and their young assistant debating on crime in a room, with no actual case taking place! On the rare occasion when they do intervene in a case, only twice do the police actually catch the culprit. In one case (The Straight Way) a policeman may or may not actually be a guilty party in a case where a girl claims she was raped by a gang of boys, only to later also accuse the officer who brought her in. Is he guilty or is she lying? Who knows, because The Fellows cannot be bothered to give an answer. There is also a 2 part story early on, yet neither case has any connection with the other. Why? One of the few The Fellows actually put away is gangster Spindoe (Ray McAnally), a character who pops up in random episodes who is one of the few to gain the attention. As with the other episodes, crime is committed and Spindoe seemingly gets away with it, but for once he is eventually caught when a experimental prank that Oldenshaw plays on Dimmock via a anonymous letter is also played on Spindoe. The trick pays off in nailing Spindoe (who would later return for his own TV series), but it also leaves Dimmock and Oldenshaw at loggerheads for a number of episodes afterwards. Part of the joy of it's predecessor was the witty interchanges between Dimmock and Oldenshaw, but here they are just left to bicker and gripe.

There are at least a number of "Before they were famous" faces that crop up in the episodes that may go some way to staving off boredom (and giving this series it's 2nd star). As well as the magnetic Ray McAnally, there are appearances by Ray Lonnen, Julie Goodyear, John Castle, Shirley Stelfox, Timothy West and Roy Marsden, with Marsden especially impressive as the cocky joy rider who Spindoe hires to become his new henchman, showing an assurance and acting ability that is astonishing for someone so young. But it's small pickings for a series that promised so much, because it is unbearably dull. And it's all so unutterably pointless as a series. When after another case fails Dimmock asks "Are you annoyed Oldenshaw because justice has failed to be done, or because you feel bored in this small instance?" you cannot feel but shout out "Both!" For all those who loved The Man in Room 17, avoid this like the plague. For those that didn't, run for the hills. I wouldn't wish this series on anyone!