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Click here to return to the main site. DVD Review
The indomitable DCI Vera Stanhope returns to face a number of daunting cases. Aided by troubled new recruit DS Aiden Healy, they investigate a deadly blaze at a coastal caravan park, unearth a thirty-year-old mystery in an old mining community, delve into the tragic last months of a young man found floating in a farm slurry pit and uncover a life of secrets and lies when a well-loved family man plummets to his death from a multi-storey car park... Brenda Blethyn returns as the shambolic yet brilliant detective, Vera in the show's fifth series. Joining D.C Kenny Lockhart, D.C. Bethany Whelan, Marcus Summer and Mark Edwards, is Vera's new right hand man, DS Aiden Healy and Intelligence Officer, Helen Milton. Unlike a lot of these genre style shows, very little is revealed about Vera's personal life. Her son, who we've heard of in the past, is briefly mentioned in passing, and her possible drink problem is hinted at, but never really explored. This is the same with her team. Nothing personal is given away about them... which could have the undesired effect of leaving them appearing a little two dimensional. However, somehow, and this is probably down to a solid script and some impressive acting, you do care about all of them even though you don't really know that much about them. I want to make a quick observation about Milton (played by Lisa Hammond) Hammond has dwarfism and Milton is disabled. I was impressed to see that when we are first introduced to Milton, her disability is not flagged up - it's only over the course of the show that you see that she is in a motorised wheelchair. It's good to see writers and directors introducing disabled characters and not making a song and dance about their disability. However, it could be my imagination, but I got the feeling that Vera didn't give Milton as hard a time as the rest of the team at the start... but thankfully she soon starts snapping at her as the series develops. This series features another four episodes: Changing Tides (where the body of a woman is found in a burnt out caravan park); Old Wounds (which sees the team investigating the recently found remains of a young girl who died in 1984, during the miner's strike); Muddy Waters (a traveller is found dead in a farm slurry pit); and Shadows in the Sky (the team are set to investigate whether a man who fell from a multi-storey car park jumped or was pushed). The opening episode also introduces us to DS Healy, and it's slowly revealed that in his previous position he killed a man in self defence. The episodes main storyline revolves around the discovery of a burnt out body in a caravan. It looks like an accident or, at the very worst manslaughter, as the fire was caused by an explosion in a neighbouring caravan that appears to have been used for growing marijuana. Old Wounds will no doubt dredge up a lot of old memories for those who lived through the miners strikes in the '80s. When a body is found, it's soon discovered that it is that of a girl who disappeared in the '80s. With a slightly turbulent home life it was always suspected that she may have run away to London. But as the police interview those that are still living in the old mining community, old wounds resurface and the mistrust between the police and these retired miners resurfaces. Muddy Waters revolves around migrant workers on a farm, who find the weighted down body of a man in a slurry pit. As the witnesses pile up, Vera and her team discover that land rights may have been a factor in the dead man's fate. Shadows in the Sky has a particularly interesting opening. The majority of it is filmed inside an ugly multi-storey car park and the cinematographer should be up for an award as they've managed to turn an ugly location into a futuristic looking beautiful backdrop. Bathed in blue lighting, it looks amazing. The episode sees a man fall to his death from a multi-storey car park, but the evidence just doesn't add up. Everything seems to indicate that he didn't go to the top of the car park in order to jump. Was it an accident, suicide or murder? This is another strong collection of episodes on this 2-disc DVD collection. There are no extras. 8 Charles Packer Buy this item online
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