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Rating:  - Two out of three
4 stars for the program.
1 star for DVD features.
"Touching Evil" is the story of Detective Inspector Dave Creegan (Robson Green) who returns to the Organized and Serial Crime (OSC) Unit after recovering from a bullet wound to the head. Creegan's injury as changed him in unpredictable ways but his boss wants him back because he is a genius at getting into the mind of serial killers. Creegan and his partner, D.I. Susan Taylor (Nicola Walker), investigate the most serious crimes in England including a serial killer of children. The show was originally broadcast on British television in 1997 and was more recently shown in the US on PBS's program, Mystery. USA Network produced their own short-lived version of the show in 2004.
The show is much less violent and more thoughtful than we are used to on American television. It is also very stylish in its way. Using dark sets and odd lighting it creates a strange and uncomfortable mood. Robson Green is excellent in the lead roll. He has intense blue eyes and rugged good looks and makes himself completely believable as the detective who can concentrate on his job while his personal life crumbles. Creegan is a loner forced to work with a partner who can't trust him. The other members of the OSC aren't sure if the Creegan is as sane as the man they once knew.
The first episode deals with Creegan's return to OSC and his investigation of several young boys who have been kidnapped and left in an airtight room to suffocate. The kidnapper has left a broadcast camera so he can watch them die. Creegan and Taylor have to crack the case before it is too late. The second episode deals with a serial killer of hospital patients and realistically deals with Creegan's own demons of having come back from the dead in the ER the night he was shot in the head. The two episodes are excellent and the script and the acting are perfect. The two episodes move along well but also concentrate on developing believable characters.
The third episode was a big disappointment. An attempt to bring cyber-space into a story line, it suffers from being written in 1997 by writers who don't quite understand cyberspace. The killer is completely unbelievable as computer whiz or as a psychological manipulator of teenagers. For example, the police arrive at the college where they suspect the criminals are and demand that all students be given user id and passwords to get into the computer system. Amazingly, the very next day every student has a new computer id. Even the reason for the initial police investigation isn't quite believable as the crime that has been committed is horse mutilation. The character of the killer is completely undeveloped and we never get a chance to discover who he is or why exactly he is committing these crimes. I found this the weakest of the stories.
Throughout the episodes there are dark scenes designed to provide a mood. To some extent this works but sometimes (especially in the last episode) it interferes with the story by being so "in your face". For example, the offices where the detectives work are always dark. I find it hard to believe that someone could read a file or do some paperwork in these offices. An interview room will be a large dark room with a small reflective table in the middle. A single spotlight will shine onto the table and provide reflecting light onto the faces of those around the table. This might be good for cool looking cinematography but it isn't really believable. Another scene in the offices has red light shining through a window onto the face of one of the detectives while the office itself is lit only by one small spotlight. Dust is floating everywhere so light is always tempered by what looks like dust or smoke. This episode feels very badly overstaged.
But that is only one clinker out of three and the others discs are most certainly worth the price of admission. The DVD's themselves are of good quality but have no special features. There is no commentary or interviews. The episodes appear on the DVD exactly as they appeared on the Mystery TV program so each 2 hour episode is broken into two 1 hour programs. This means that at the end of the first hour there are closing credits and then opening credits of Mystery followed by Diana Rigg's introduction which in some cases gives more of the episode away than I would have liked. It would have been much better if they had been edited so that it was possible to watch the episodes without the break.
Rating:  - In The Caress of Touching Evil
Ten beyond darkness. I've set up the first episode of 'Touching Evil 1 - The Lost Boys' - in my player. I'll probably watch the opening credits by eleven pm to see who Inspector Dave Creegan is. I've left one city - Twin Peaks - waking up somewhere in England for something that I've already decided has to be the next step beyond where I was yesterday. I'm sure that this series has something to do with my life or I wouldn't have been brought to it?
'Touching Evil 1's lead character - Dave Creegan? I like him. A man of dark currents who's personnal life is a complete mess; but, he manages to function professionally in his job as crime investigator.
Well? Sometimes things happen that cross into his personnal life that take his professional life on a side road that might be inappropriate. But. That makes his vulnerabilities a unigue defense when he steps into that darkness of depraved souls who lurk in places outside humanity / compassion / human soul!
-Touching Evil is very methotical / slow moving / observant / voyeuristic-You get to be in another man's controversy / contridiction / confusion / resolution / reflection I've only gotten thru episodes 1 and 2 of session one
The Lost Boys - Creegan tracking down the killer of children
To Death and Back - Mercy Killings of Terminally Ill patients / revelations of his own death Intrigued / caught up in soul stealing mysterys of another man's life! - can't wait to get to
- episode 3 tomorrow night -
' 'What Amathus Wants '
This is a compelling series that won't let you sleep until
the final chapter
Rating: - Another amasing British series
As great as Wire in the Blood. Robson Green is also amazing in the police detective Creegan character. Another British series that focuses on the psychological side of characters in a superb way, catching you atention so quickly that you can see one episode after the other with no brake. This first Touching Evel episodes grabed my interest so quickly that I will buy the next two.
Rating: - cant... stop... watching.
this is the best cop drama i haver seen, it's dark with out beeing depresing, and totaly involving.
Rating: - I Liked It Very Much
I rarely watch American TV anymore because of the chance to see crime drama at it's best like the "Touching Evil" series. I have epals that I share my favs with and visa-versa. The "Touching Evil" series was recommended by an epal because of it's intelligent drama. I rented it, for the lowest price, of course, just in case it wasn't worth the cash. I really liked it.
I do have my favorite episodes, though. The first episode, "The Lost Boys" of the series and the first episode in Series 3. Series 2 and 3 do not have specific episode titles, so I call this one, "Hearts".
"The Lost Boys" introduces Detective Inspector Dave Creegan(Robson Green) to us. Creegan is volitile, yet brilliant. He had been wounded in the line of duty, which was followed by psychiatric counselling. It makes one wonder why ACC Enwright(Michael Feast) called him back into service. Creegan's emotional volitility caused the breakup of his marriage.
After getting to know Creegan as a character, the audience can see why. Creegan is a "driven" man and has instincts that can see through the mask of a criminal as he does in "The Lost Boys". Creegan sees through the mask of university professor Ronald Hinks(Ian McDiarmid-Sen. Palatine from Star Wars). Creegan fights with Enwright and other team members to get Hinks arrested for kidnapping 3 boys, but Hink's lawyers have a larger case for Creegan's harrassment of Hinks.
Creegan is teamed up with DI Susan Taylor(Nicola Walker), Detective Sargent Jonathan Kreitman(Adam Kotz) and Detective Constable Mark Rivers(Shaun Dingwall). There is conflict almost immediately between the team members.
I would like to see a 4th "Touching Evil" series, if only to clean up some questions before ending this intelligent series. My biggest question, of course, is "Why did Enwright bring Creegan back in the first place?" Creegan made it clear that he was a "one-to-one" person and that selling ice cream would probably be the best job he would enjoy AND he was psychologically unstable. There is also the question of why Taylor was picked to partner with Creegan.
"Hearts" is just plain brilliant. All the actors are at their best in this one, but Robson Green stands out. After the murder of a friend, he finally crosses that psychological line. Green is brilliant followed by Andy Serkis(Dr. Michael Lawler). The other actors follow closely behind.
Do I recommend this series. YES, but only the British one. When we Americans try to recreate a wonderful program like this, we always fall short.
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