Six Four

Six Four: Another dark detective mystery series set in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and rural Scotland., Detective Constable Chris O'Neill (Kevin McKidd) and his wife, Micheele (Vinette Robinson), an ex-uncover officer are worried, their daughter has been missing for three weeks. An unrelated missing person case from 16 yeaes ago rears it's head again. The father in this case, James Cosmo believes that a cover up took place. Then the Justice Seretary's daughter is kidnapped, Dark and gritty involving corruption, murder, security service involvement and secret papers. Michelle has her own secrets to keep as she heads to London seeking help from contacts in her undercover days in a quest to find her daughter. A multi-layered thriller which will keep you guessing as to what is really at stake. On ITVX and RTE2. 8/10.

STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful

After the trauma of identifying a body that turned out not to be her child, Michelle (Vinette Robinson) absconds from her partner, Chris (Kevin McKidd) at a train station in Glasgow, and flees to London, leaving Chris in pieces. Whilst dealing with this, Chris approaches his brother, Phillip (Andrew Whipp), regarding the case of a girl who went missing some time ago. But thing's really heat up when Annabel (Iona Anderson), the daughter of Justice Minister Robert Wallace (Richard Coyle) goes missing, and Chris is plunged in to a dangerous web of deceit and betrayal.

Nearly seven years after the Brexit referendum, and nearly a good ten years after the Scottish Independence vote, politics is still as hotly contentious as ever, and so a fine framework to set a mystery thriller around, such as this adaptation of the novel by Hideo Yukoyama. With a strong, solid cast, and supporting cast, of hot Scottish talent, old and new, there's a whole web of different characters and plot strands threaded in to a fairly condensed four part thriller, that requires a bit of patience to get past the first hurdle.

However thrilling the story eventually becomes, it makes the critical mistake of having a mundane opening, that plays out in a pretty perfunctory and flat manner that doesn't bode well for what's to come, but stick with it, and somehow these characters manage to grow some meat, and play an integral part in something that crucially has a plot and a subplot, with plenty of twists and turns. It doesn't all fit organically together, but there is a genuine sense of intrigue and mystery to the story, with a decent revelation at the end.

You can't beat a good mystery, and while this is far from the best you'll ever see, it's ultimately still a satisfying affair, with some sweeping cinematography of the Scottish Highlands and a neat steady rock soundtrack thrown in for good measure. ***

Gripping four episode thriller based on a Japanese novel, but set in Scotland. Moody and dark, the main reason for watching this is Kevin McKidd who gives a stellar performance as a troubled police detective whose daughter has gone missing. While the plots has enough twists to avoid being in the paint by numbers school of thriller writing, watch it for McKidd as he gets inside the head of his character, a lowly ranked detective. McKidd's performance masterfully avoids the limitations of his character I.e., the cliche of the passed over disgruntled detective, whose brother has made it to the top of the Force. Intense yet under played, McKiidd turns in a slow burn performance that simply steals the show.

Watchable drama is the headline for this one. At times there are twists. Scottish politics are thrown in for good measure and it all makes a compellable and consumable drama. Would I want a second series? Probably not, does this reflect the real world? Almost certainly not - but then why do I want a drama to reflect the real world.

The characters are standard the grizzled old timer and maverick, a villain who may hold the key to everything - well I expected him to turn to the camera and cackle. The acting was pretty standard too with no stand out performances.

The cinematography at times is stunning without trying to advertise Scotland. The sound track is a little unexpected and forgettable but doesn't detract from a watchable drama.

Well I thought that it seemed a strong cast but oh dear, oh dear! What induced Kevin McKidd and James Cosmo to take part in this mish mash? The plot is so convoluted that I don't think the cast even understood it. The sub plot of Kevin's missing daughter was utterly irrelevant and completely misleading. Then there was the dishonest senior cop. Or was he? Then another local copper turned up with an axe to grind. With me so far because I'm not! It just seems to be a rewrite of. Then it was all about Scottish independence and how the terrible English government security services were interfering. Of course there were 2 characters who may or may not have been something important. To me, it's just a very poor rewrite of "Scotch on the Rocks".