Collision   Starring: Douglas Henshall, Dean Lennox Kelly, David Bamber, Lucy Griffiths, Claire Rushbrook, Paul McGann, Phil Davis and Kate Ashfield RRP: £19.99 C4DVD10266 Certificate: 15 Available 16 November 2009

This five-part drama series follows the lives of everyone affected by a road collision; a group of people who have never met, but who all share one single defining moment that will change their lives forever...

Collision is a five-part drama series which was originally broadcast on ITV between 09-13 November 2009. The basic plot follows DI John Tolin (Douglas Henshall, Primeval) as he pieces together the contributing factors that led to a motorway pile up which claims the lives of several people. Tolin himself was a victim of such an accident a year previously when his wife was killed and his daughter confined to a wheelchair.

Taking on this investigation may not be the best move of his career, especially as he seems determined to find problems where on first glance there appear to be none.

The first episode starts after the accident as Tolin is assigned to the case. Then we are shown the lead up to the incident via flashback sequences - with the end of the episode showing the accident.

The following episodes examines how the lives of those involved changes, as well as flashing back in time to see what they were all really doing on the road that day. Each person involved has something that they are hiding which is eventually uncovered by the police, or their relations.

Kate Ashfield play Ann Stallwood, the other police officer investigating the accident. She has a prior relationship with Tolin, which causes a little friction. Other characters include Richard Reeves (Paul McGann) a millionaire property developer who starts to fall for the service station waitress Jane Tarrant (Lucy Griffiths) who comes to his aid after the crash. Dean Lennox Kelly and his real life brother Craig Kelly play brothers Danny and Jeffrey Rampton, whose business dealings are about to be exposed as a result of the crash. Claire Rushbrook plays Karen Donnelly who survives the crash, but has a secret which puts her life in jeopardy again. Phil Davis plays Brian Edwards who escapes the carnage which kills his mother-in-law, Joyce, played by Sylvia Syms. His wife Christine, played by Jan Francis, is devastated by the death of her mother, and confused by her husband’s reaction to the police questions. David Bamber plays Sidney Norris, a piano teacher whose guilty secrets are uncovered in the investigations.

While I was disappointed that a lot of the writing wasn't subtle enough (I'd worked out the people smuggling angle within two minutes of the guy being on the phone to his wife, and was expecting the cliched scene where Torin would almost be involved in a car accident himself) I was equally impressed how red herrings were littered for the viewer to make you think a certain way about a character. For example when we discover that Norris has changed his name I immediately jumped to a conclusion which turned out to be the wrong one. Equally, the drunk driver who killed Torin's wife was, refreshingly, shown to be a real person who just made a stupid mistake.

Extras include audio commentaries on episodes one and two as well as Behind the Scenes (18 min, 29 sec featurette which looks at the three day shoot for the motorway accident).

The final act, without spoiling too much, where the action is reversed to take us back to a pivotal moment, and see how one simple act could have changed everything, is incredibly well realised.

Whether you saw this on its original broadcast or not, this is one series that's worth picking up. You'll want to watch it at least a couple of times in order to get all the subtle references of what is to come.

9

Darren Rea