llywela | on the box - Hinterland and Midsomer Murders

The second episode of BBC Wales's new detective drama Hinterland aired last night. I still like it. It's fairly procedural in that the focus is always on the investigation, but even so, two episodes in we're getting a good feel for the lead detectives, and overall the show is very atmospheric. I suppose the brooding detective escaping from a failed marriage and estranged from his children is a bit of an overused trope, but I like Richard Harrington's Tom Mathias anyway - aside from his TV detective stereotyping (well, that's what it looks like so far, but we don't really know his backstory yet), he's a compassionate man with a keenly observant eye who is like a terrier with a bone when he gets his teeth stuck into a mystery, a lateral thinker, good at putting seemingly unconnected/unimportant details together to assemble a complete picture. He doesn't just want to solve the crime, he wants to solve the mystery, and once he's on a case his brain never stops ticking over; he gets over-invested and takes his work home with him. He's also impulsive and a bit reckless, tends to just follow a hunch wherever it leads, without always stopping to think things through (or, you know, to let anyone know where he's going, even if it's potentially dangerous). It also helps that he's easy on the eye, I will admit! Harrington talks a bit about the show and his character, and the challenges and appeals of the bilingual production in this interview here. In episode one his right-hand woman Mared Rhys (Mali Harries, the wife of Broadchurch's Matthew Gravelle) mentioned her daughter, now in episode two we've met the family and seen just enough to get a feel for Mared's homelife - she and daughter Elen seem to live with her parents and Elen has a fantastic relationship with her gran that leaves career-focused mum Mared feeling more than a little out of it, while Mared's father is a bit of a recluse who'd rather hang out in the garage working on his car than engage with the family. There's a bit of friction between Mared and her DS, Sian Owens, that I hope will be explained and explored more in the future, although they can also work well together when not butting heads. Sian and DC Lloyd Ellis remain more supporting characters than fully fleshed individuals, but we already know that Sian is bright, keen and ambitious (and a little resentful of Mared, so focuses her efforts to please on Mathias), while Lloyd is mostly just Research Boy so far so I hope we'll get to know him more later.

We're two for two on intriguing cases that really suck you in so far, as well. These murders aren't just murders, they are stories about people and culture and society. Last night's came out terribly sad in the wash, but kept me thinking and guessing throughout. Also, the landscape of Ceredigion is absolutely gorgeous and the show uses it to full effect with some lovely cinematography and direction.

Hinterland is airing on BBC Wales only at the moment, but apparently is due for nationwide screening on BBC4 later in the year.

The other detective drama on my TV at the moment is the latest series of Midsomer Murders, which is about as different from Hinterland as can be. I've always enjoyed Midsomer Murders - for a show about gruesom murder, it's a light, entertaining show, and I've always loved that Barnaby (both versions) bucks the trend of brooding, angsty TV detectives with screwed up homelives by being a happily married family man. Got to admit I'm a bit surprised though that the new Barnaby and his wife are having a baby (with nary a mention of them being older parents, as well) - I've always wondered why the show hasn't gone there with one of the sidekicks. They are around for so many years, it seems strange that they've always been unlucky in love. A sidekick falling in love, getting married and starting a family would have been such perfect background material, I've always been surprised that they were kept unremittingly single. So Barnaby himself is getting the baby storyline instead - we'll see how that pans out. It's early days for the new sidekick, Charlie Nelson, but I like what we've seen of him so far. I wasn't sure how the show would go with so many changes, but it retains its charm, I still like all the characters, and that's what matters. Fun mid-week viewing!

As much as I've always liked Tamzin Malleson, though, and enjoy her as pathologist Kate Wilding, I do miss Dr Bullard and am sad about the death of actor Barry Jackson last year.

And that's pretty much my TV schedule at the moment - death and detectives all the way!