Into the Blue

Robert Goddard's splendidly crafted novel brought to the small screen. But Goddard must have been heartbroken to see how his work was changed for television production. John Thaw seems to struggle with a role for which he is completely miscast; and with the whole tenor of the plot changed for compression into a two hour format, this must be one of the more disappointing television adaptations of recent times.

A British expatriate living on the island of Rhodes investigates the mysterious disappearance of a woman with whom he has had a brief affair.

Outside of Morse, The Sweeney and Kavanagh I have found John Thaw as not very credible. In this he plays Joe Average and he is not convincing, neither is his affair with a girl young enough to be his daughter. It just looks embarrassingly wrong.

The storyline is convoluted and has a twist at the end that may have been original in 1997, but not in 2025.

This is one of those films where it might pay to remember the opening scene throughout. I completely forgot about it.

When a woman he has just met disappears on the island of Rhodes, Harry's innocence is doubted. But as he begins to examine the woman's past he realizes his closest friend could be involved in murder.

Robert Goddard is a solid and reliable British writer of clever and complex mysteries. However this adaptation of his novel Into The Blue as a vehicle for John Thaw is disastrous from word go. Embarrassingly miscast, Thaw struggles with accent and intent as he blunders from one scene to another, and he is horribly betrayed by a great clunking script and ghastly supporting actors - Ba is particularly awful as Harry's reluctant sidekick.

Find Goddard's original novel and avoid this turkey at all costs.

Apparently author Robert Goddard was not happy with the adaptation of his novel. It does seem clear to me that John Thaw was miscast, although this was a star vehicle for him.

The made for television movie starts with a flashback. A schoolboy finds a box from the railway line, it contained a baby.

In later years two women have been attacked and found dead.

In the the present day. Harry Barnett (Thaw) is house minding a property in Rhodes for politician Alan Dysart.

Harry is a failed businessman but Dysart has helped him out. Only Dysart was a government minister who had to resign over a scandal.

Now Harry is involved in a scandal of his own. A young woman called Heather Mallender bedded him and has now disappeared. Harry knows she was snooping about Dysart's house looking for something.

Harry returns to Britain to clear his name. He finds that Dysart had been involved with Heather's sister who was found drowned.

Maybe there is a dark side to Dysart, he seems to be involved with dodgy business dealings.

By the end the various plot elements all makes sense. It is just not that good.

Harry, a man who's down on his luck, meets a beautiful young woman whilst house sitting in Rhodes, all is going well until she vanishes, and he's accused of her murder.

I wanted to see this after reading the book, and having only recently filmed it, I'd have to question how much of the book was adapted, it almost feels like an entirely different story.

If you're a fan of mysteries, and a fan of the late great John Thaw, I think you'll enjoy this, if you're looking for a faithful adaptation, you'll be sorely disappointed.

It had a great start, decent core, and a very confusing, but exciting ending. The conclusion was the only poor element for me, not all events were explained, it felt very vague and ambiguous.

Great location work, fine acting and some excitement. The acting was great I thought, and for me John Thaw was very well cast.

I enjoyed it, 7/10.