The Murder in Angel Lane (2013)

How sad is this?

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

A bit of a strange one, this. It's a sequel to the ITV production of THE SUSPICIONS OF MR WHICHER: THE MURDER AT ROAD HILL HOUSE, which was in turn based on a book documenting a true-life murder case from the 19th century. THE MURDER IN ANGEL LANE has the same character this time investigating a fictional murder case in Victorian London. I suspect it was made to cash in on BBC1's successful RIPPER STREET, although this is a one-off drama.The best thing about the production is Paddy Considine, who returns as Mr Whicher; older, wiser perhaps, and certainly more embittered. Considine gives a finely-judged and mature turn as Whicher, and he certainly holds the attention whenever he's on screen. It's a shame, then, that the rest of the story is so hackneyed and done-to-death.The plot involves the murder of a young girl, seemingly robbed and killed on the street by a stranger. Inevitably, it transpires that the story runs much deeper than that, with all kinds of skeletons lurking in cupboards and mixed-up family secrets to complicate matters. It's passable fare, but there's nothing that hasn't been done before here, and better too.The thing that most interested me was the cast; there are lots of half-familiar faces , and most of the actors give performances that are interesting at the very least. Ironically, the least interesting of the bunch is the most prominent, flavour-of-the-month Olivia Colman, who seems to give the same wide-eyed angsty turn in everything I've seen her in.Still, with Considine steering the investigation it could be a lot worse, and it'll do as an adequate time-filler until RIPPER STREET comes back next year.

Set some time after the first story featuring Victorian detective Jack Whicher this story takes place after he has left the police. As the story opens he helps a woman, Susan Spencer, as a cutpurse attempts to rob her; it turns out she is looking for her niece who has run away to find the father of the child she is expecting. He agrees to help her but when she is found it is too late; she has been murdered although not until she has given birth. She asks Jack to continue his investigation until the killer, presumed to be the child's father has been found. It turns out the suspect's family have clashed with the Spencers before; his father had been hanged for the murder of Susan's father many years before. There will be many twists before Whicher can solve the case during which we'll learn more about the key characters and some of the most trusted people will prove to be dangerous!The review in my newspaper had been fairly negative but since I had enjoyed the previous story I decided to give this a go; I'm glad I did as I rather enjoyed it. The Victorian setting meant that we weren't bogged down with the minutiae of forensics; instead Whicher had to rely on his instincts to piece together information gleaned from various witnesses to understand what happened; both in the present and in the past. The strength of the show is of course Paddy Constantine's fine performance as Jack Whicher although he is ably supported by the likes of Olivia Coleman, Shaun Dingwall and William Beck. Most mysteries have plenty of twists and this was no exception; some are likely to be guessed before they are revealed but thankfully the big twist came as a complete surprise to me! Overall I'd say this is well worth watching if you enjoy murder mysteries; it is just a shame it is a one off story… hopefully enough people will have enjoyed it for ITV to commission further stories.