TV I like: George Gently - Series 1, Episode 1

At the end of the pilot, viewers knew there was a show. Gently informed Bacchus he was no longer retiring and was staying on, ostensibly to keep Bacchus on the ‘straight and narrow’, the latter having shown his “the end justifies the means” philosophy/habit that Gently is determined to break him of. He tells the story of one police officer who he didn’t take under his wing and that officer is now one of the most corrupt currently serving in the Met. Whether viewers will ever meet the man, remains to be seen. In the meantime, we have this episode, entitled The Burning Man, based on Alan Hunter’s book “Gently Where The Road Goes” and set in Northumberland of 1964. 

A burnt body is found and a young woman reports her father as missing. It draws the interest of a Commander Empton of Special Branch, who befriends and cultivates Bacchus as a potential new recruit, a position Bacchus would be eager to fill, who although he has good instincts, just doesn’t have the experience to navigate slippery Special Branch tactics. Gently keeps his distance and is none too impressed with the budding rapport between his Sergeant and the Special Branch man. An IRA connection is quickly found, and Gently’s objective is to stay ahead of what Special Branch is up to and solve the case properly. After about one hour into the episode, Empton finally shares what he knows and why he’s interested in the case – one that turns out involving an actively serving man from the IRA with the nickname “the Sniper” working undercover in Northumberland in an effort to procure weapons for the Republican cause using a contact at RAF Huxford and there’s another half hour of shenanigans that follows.

The guest cast listed in the opening is again substantial – I recognised Robert Glenister (playing Commander Empton) and Pooky Quesnel (playing Wanda Lane, a middle-aged Irish woman with ties to the missing IRA man and who tries to seduce Gently) immediately, but other names listed were not familiar at all: John Kavanagh (playing Doyle) and Tony Rohr, who played China, previously played by Sean McGinley. Faces I recognised were those of Finbar Lynch as Ruari O’Connell and Tom Beard playing the RAF officer Campling in charge of Huxford.

Contextualising 1964:
* Forensic science of the day also includes analysis of dental records

As much as I like spy stories (I liked the Bourne films, even parts of Bourne Legacy, I like 007 films, one of my favourite television programmes is Spooks), I find double agent storylines a bit tiring. What has also already begun to wear on me is Bacchus’s frequent need to say “I’m sorry” – is this just because a position at Special Branch was dangled in front of him, or is this going to be the overall tone of the show? What about the next time someone presents him with a carrot? Is he going to be the young guy falling for it every time but managing to redeem himself by making connections between clues etc. showing his boss he’s not completely incompetent? 

Viewers knew from the get-go that this 'pairing' is not between equals – it's definitely more of a mentor/pupil dynamic, at least from Gently’s side. Bacchus wants to be viewed as an equal partner, but will the show support growth in that direction, and maybe even more interestingly, will Gently accept him as such, assuming the writers decide to go that way. 

Next episode: Series 1, Episode 2 - Bomber's Moon