Above Suspicion: Deadly Intent, ITV1

Convoluted and formulaic police procedural by Lynda La Plante

by Fisun GunerTuesday, 04 January 2011

More sexual tension please! Kelly Reilly (DI Travis) and Ciarán Hinds (DCS Langton) in flaccid first episode of Lynda La Plante thriller

What’s with the two titles? A crime drama so good that they had to name it twice? Or couldn’t anyone in production decide which one to ditch? Why not swap them around, or maybe call it "Prime Suspect", or "Prime Suspect: Deadly Intent", or variations thereof? (OK, perhaps not "Prime Suspect: Above Suspicion", which would kind of cancel the other one out, but you get my drift.) Indeed, Lynda La Plante’s titles are so irritatingly, meaninglessly generic that they’d fit just about any old plot with a vaguely criminal theme. But then, her plots are generic, so I suppose as long as they’ve got cliché written all over them you’re OK, because at least then you’ll know what complete toss and nonsense to expect. And not even enjoyable toss and nonsense.

Who was the first ever fictional criminal mastermind to go under the knife for a “new face”? And shouldn’t Lynda La Plante be keeping well clear of these hoary old nonsense storylines?

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