Crime Time Preview: Third Degree: Mark Ellis

Friday, 21 October 2011

Third Degree: Mark Ellis

Debut author Mark Ellis in pulled into crimetimepreview HQ for questioning about his crime-viewing habits. Mark is a man with an interesting past. He was a barrister who went into business, developing a computer services company that was eventually sold for $250 million. His love of writing and passion for noir novels led him to produce Princes Gate, a thriller set in wartime London in which DCI Frank Merlin investigates the murder of a brilliant scientist.

Your favourite British crime series or thriller on TV?
Morse.

Favourite US crime series or thriller on TV?
Murder One.

Top TV cop?
Morse.

Which unfilmed book/character should be made into a TV drama?
Harry Hole (Jo Nesbo) – if there's a Norwegian series I haven't heard about it yet.

If one of your novels were filmed, who would you cast to be the hero?
Dominic West, or if you go back to old times Gregory Peck or Stanley Baker.

What is your guilty pleasure?
Harry Hill's TV Burp.

Do you prefer The Wire or The Sopranos?
The Sopranos.

Marple/Poirot or Sherlock Holmes?
Marple/Poirot.

Wallander – BBC or the Swedish version?
Swedish.

US or British television crime dramas?
British.

Your favourite crime/thriller writers?
Too many to mention but include Highsmith, Simenon, Michael Connelly, Le Carre, Graham Greene, James Ellroy, Jo Nesbo.

Favourite non-crime/thriller author?
Too many to mention but include Dickens, Tolstoy, Philip K Dick, Philip Roth, William Boyd (suppose he could be in both categories).

Favourite crime movie or thriller?
The Third Man/Strangers on a Train.

You’ve been framed for murder. Which fictional detective/sleuth would you want to call up?
Poirot.

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Coming in 2013…

From period gangster stories, to serial killers, issue-driven dramas and the return of a few old favourites, 2013 has a rich selection of some terrific new crime series. Great writing from the likes of Jimmy McGovern, and compelling acting from Gillian Anderson, Gabriel Byrne, Benedict Cumberbatch, David Tennant and many others are coming our way in new dramas (Peaky Blinders, The Fall), adaptations (Quirke, Doors Open) and returning heroes – and anti-heroes (Sherlock, Luther). Watch out… Pics: BBC, ITV

For the full report, click here

Peaky Blinders

Cillian Murphy, Sam Neill, Helen McCrory, Charlie Creed-Miles

Gangster epic with a difference – it's set in Birmingham, just after the First World War. This is based on the little known history/legend of the Peaky Blinders, so-called for their practice of keeping a razor in their cap peaks. They were a vicious bunch who ran protection, track betting and robbery. Cillian Murphy is Tommy Shelby, the most ruthless brother of the Shelby family, whose leadership is tested by a new police chief, CI Campbell, played by Sam Neill. BBC2 2013

Anticipation factor: ★★★★★

Quirke

Gabriel Byrne

This will be one of the most eagerly anticipated new crime dramas of the year. Based on the novels of Benjamin Black – aka award-winning Irish writer John Banville – and scripted by Andrew Davies and Conor McPherson, these three feature-length stories starring Gabriel Byrne are about the chief pathologist in the Dublin morgue during the 1950s. Smoky streets, damp allies, sexual tension, secrets and intrigue should make these dramas rich viewing. Each episode will see Quirke investigate the death of one of the unfortunate souls who end up on his mortuary slab. BBC1 2013

Anticipation factor: ★★★★★

Sherlock 3

Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman

Come on, with that cliffhanger we all want to see how writers Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss get out of Sherlock's death-plunge at the end of series two. Online forums have been a-buzz with theories and analysis of Sherlock's apparent death, but of course security around the next series is tighter than a gnat's buttocks. Not content with tormenting fans with the cliffhanger, the dastardly writers recently suggested that the next three feature-length stories will revolve around the words rat, wedding and bow. Elementary? Hardly. But if the writing and chemistry between Holmes and Watson fizzes as it did in the previous two series, it should be terrific TV again. BBC1 2013

Anticipation factor: ★★★★★

Restless

Hayley Atwell, Rufus Sewell, Michelle Dockery, Michael Gambon, Charlotte Rampling

Based on William Boyd's bestseller, this two-parter (2 x 90mins) is the intriguing story of a woman whose mother, one day in 1976, tells her she's been leading a double life. She is not respectable Sally Gilmartin but in fact Eva Delectorskaya, a spy for the British Secret Service who has been on the run for 30 years. Eva’s story begins in Paris in 1939… BBC1 late 2012

Anticipation factor: ★★★★½

Luther 3

Idris Elba

This is probably maverick DCI John Luther's last telly outing before he makes the leap to the big screen. Writer/creator Neil Cross has said, 'The final scene of the final episode is great and we wouldn’t want to continue. I have a weakness for a powerful and moving ending. We’ll go out big and leave it at that.' BBC1 2012/13

Anticipation factor: ★★★★½

Common

No casting announced yet

Jimmy McGovern (Hillsborough, Dockers) doesn't write mealy-mouthed dramas, and this 90-minute film is sure to pack a wallop. It will probe the potential for injustice within the law's Joint Enterprise or Common Purpose rule. It starts with three young men hurrying to a parked car that has 17-year-old JohnJo at the wheel. They drive off, leaving a scene in which a stabbing has occurred at a pizza parlour… BBC1 2013

Anticipation factor: ★★★★½

The Honourable Woman

No casting announced yet

Following the superb The Shadow Line, writer Hugo Blick returns with this six-parter. The daughter of a UK Zionist gun-runner inherits her murdered father's company and by dramatically inverting its purpose from supplying tanks to tractors starts a deadly political war. Blick says, 'This is a suspenseful spy thriller about inheritance, political and personal, and the lengths some spies will go to not only to deceive their enemies – but also themselves.' BBC2 2013

Anticipation factor: ★★★★

Life of Crime

Hayley Atwell

An urban crime drama in three parts that follows a policewoman's career over three decades. Hayley Atwell (The Sweeney, Captain America) plays risk-taking rookie copper Denise Woods, who becomes obsessed with tracking down the killer of a 15-year-old girl called Anna. The drama explores Denise’s career as she progresses through the Metropolitan Police. Set against the backdrop of iconic moments in British history, such as the Brixton Riots, Life of Crime follows Denise as she rises through the ranks, initially struggling in a male-orientated profession where sexism is rife and female officers must fight to be accepted. Filming in Brixton and Dublin starts in November 2012. ITV1 2013

Anticipation factor: ★★★★

Murder on the Home Front

Patrick Kennedy, Tamzin Merchant, James Fleet, Emerald Fennell

Loosely based on the memoirs of Molly Lefebure, a secretary during the war to the Home Office pathologist and pioneer of modern forensics, Keith Simpson, this could be a really interesting drama. During the Blitz there were a lot of murky goings-on as the bombs fell, with some people literally getting away with murder. The story will follow Dr Lennox Collins (Patrick Kennedy) and his secretary Molly Cooper (Tamzin Merchant) as Collins challenges his superiors and tries to uncover the truth at crime scenes by treating every bit of physical evidence as key to a breakthrough and not relying on intuition. ITV1 2013

Anticipation factor: ★★★★

The Fall

Gillian Anderson, Jamie Dornan

Psychological thriller probing the lives of two hunters. Dornan (Once Upon a Time) plays serial killer Paul Sector, who stalks his victims in and around Belfast. Anderson (The X Files, Great Expectations) is talented Detective Superintendent Gibson on secondment from the Met, brought in to catch him. BBC1 late 2012

Anticipation factor: ★★★★

Case Histories 2

Jason Isaacs, Victoria Wood, Amanda Abbington, Millie Innes, Zawe Ashton

Three 90-minutes stories adapted from Kate Atkinson's novel Started Early, Took My Dog, to follow-up BBC1's well-received first series. Victoria Wood said, 'I am a huge fan of Kate Atkinson and couldn't resist the chance to be involved in Case Histories.' Jason Isaacs added, 'I can't wait to put on the crumpled, witty, self-destructive, noble and naughty skin of Jackson Brodie again.' BBC1 2013

Anticipation factor: ★★★★

Line of Duty 2

Vicky McClure, Martin Compston

Casting is not confirmed for the return to Jed Mercurio's cat-and-mouse thriller, but the series did so well in the ratings for BBC2, hitting 4.2m viewers for its finale, that it was quickly re-commissioned. In fact, the channel honchos were so chuffed with the show that they felt it signalled new confidence and the rebirth of drama at BBC2. Line of Duty followed anti-corruption officers trying to nail Lennie James' slippery detective, who killed himself at the end of the drama. While the story was an interesting look at corruption and the massaging of police statistics, the drama was a little OTT at times. It will be interesting to see where series two goes. BBC2 2013

Anticipation factor: ★★★½

Southcliffe

Rory Kinnear, Sean Harris, Shirley Henderson, Eddie Marsan

Southcliffe is a fictional English town that is devastated by a spate of shootings that occur in a single day. Writer Tony Grisoni describes it like this, 'Southcliffe is a fictional market town inhabited by fictional characters, but with similarities to many actual people and places in Britain today. Invisible people, anonymous places. The inexplicable chain of events at the dark heart of this four-part drama shatters time and space for Southcliffe's inhabitants.' Ch4 2013

Anticipation factor: ★★★½

Miss Marple (three films)

Julia McKenzie

A Caribbean Mystery was filmed during the summer, in which Miss Marple is staying in a luxury hotel in the tropics when fellow guest Major Palgrave dies in inevitably suspicious circumstances. Also in the line-up is Endless Night and The Seven Dials Mystery, which are being made during this autumn. ITV1 2012/13

Anticipation factor: ★★★½

Agatha Christie's Poirot (five films)

David Suchet

David Suchet's herculean feat of playing Hercule Poirot for 22 years in 65 Poirot films is nearing completion as he works on the final five Agatha Christie stories from the canon that remain to be made. In production this year have been Labours of Hercules, Dead Man's Folly, The Big Four, Elephants Can Remember and Curtain. ITV1 2012/13

Anticipation factor: ★★★½

Whitechapel 4

Rupert Penry-Jones, Phil Davies, Steve Pemberton

It's hard to see where writers Caroline Ip and Ben Court can go with this, having dredged up most of the East End's most infamous chamber-of-horrors killers, but ITV have ordered six new episodes anyway. Series one was about Jack the Ripper, which was followed by the ghosts of the Krays and then several lesser known cases in the last series. The ratings have grown with each series, reaching seven million last time out. 2013 ITV1

Anticipation factor: ★★★

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Friday, 21 October 2011

Third Degree: Mark Ellis

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