Blackpool

Blackpool was a six part drama series that aired on the BBC back in 2004. It was written by Peter Bowker, and starred David Morrissey, Sarah Parish and David Tennant. It’s a murder mystery with a twist - namely, that it’s a (sort-of) musical as well. During dramatic moments, songs will start playing, and the characters will sing along to the song (the original vocals are also heard) and take part in choreographed dance routines.

It’s bizarre, and takes a certain mindset in the part of the audience before you can enjoy it. Luckily, I’m a musical theater nut, so I loved it. The concept proved less popular in the US, where a remake - Viva Laughlin - bombed after two episodes and earned the worst reviews since Cop Rock.
The basic plot is fairly simple. Ripley Holden (David Morrissey) is an amusement arcade owner, trying to get planning permission for a new hotel complex. This is made a bit harder by the find of a dead body in his arcade. DI Peter Carlisle (David Tennant) is called in and quickly finds he has more on his mind than murder, when he falls in love with Ripley's long-suffering wife, Natalie (Sarah Parish).

In amongst that, there’s various subplots going on with Ripley’s two kids. His daughter is marrying a much older man with ties to Ripley’s past, and his son is hiding a lot of secrets that could ruin Ripley - or at least throw a spanner into his worldview.

It’s not a massively complicated plot, and to be honest - it sort of seems a bit prolonged at six episodes. The soloution to the mystery itself is fairly obvious from near the start, and when it’s finally revealed, it’s almost as an afterthought, as if that’s not really what matters.

And of course, that’s mostly right. The main bulk of the enjoyment comes from the characters and the relationships between them, and the songs, of course. The acting is excellent, as you would expect from a glance at the cast list. David Morrissey’s Ripley commands the screen every time he’s on, and even though he’s an amoral slime who beats up his friends, organizes shifty business deals, cheats on his taxes, and cheats on his wife like it’s going out of style, you can’t help but like him based on his sheer force of personality and charisma.

David Tennant’s Peter Carlisle is also good - an outwardly charming and sensitive man, at first you think he’s a great guy. He’s charming, funny, treats Natalie well, and generally comes across as an all round swell guy. As the show moves on, you start realizing how manipulative he is. He’s as amoral as Ripley when it comes to getting his own way. Of course, he’s still played by David Tennant, so it’s difficult to really dislike him, of course.

The chemistry between him and Sarah Parish is worth noting. Tennant is one of those actors who tends to have great chemistry with most people, due to the fact that he seems to flirting with anyone who happens to be on screen with at time. That includes Morrissey, incidentally, slash fans - check out where the two of them dance cheek to cheek! His chemistry with Parish is special, though - check out the dancing scene set to Gabrielle’s “Should I stay?” and tell me that’s not crazy hot.

As mentioned before, it’s the characters that keep you watching in this. Who people seem to be at the start gets muddled as the show goes on. People reveal hidden parts to themselves, relationships get complicated, and the twists and turns keep everything going when the plot is - to be honest - going in circles a bit.

The music is great - mostly classic rock and pop tunes with a couple of newer songs thrown in for good measure - and the songs always relate to what’s happening on screen. The fact that the actors can be heard singing WITH the original vocals is a bit weird, but it makes it less jarring when other the vocals are switched between characters as the song goes on.

I’d recommend Blackpool a lot. It wasn’t a huge success for the Beeb, but it was well-received enough that it spawned a one-off sequel a few years later - Viva Blackpool. Sadly, it’s not nearly as good. Only Ripley and his daughter return from the first one - Tennant and Parish having swanned off into the sunset - and Ripley gets caught up in a lightweight scheme to recover the World Cup trophy, while trying to thwart the advances of an American Femme Fatale.

It’s a fun ninety minutes, but not nearly as substantial as the original. It’s a lot more light hearted, almost coming across as a comedy version of the original. Morrissey is as good as ever, but his daughter - played by Georgia Taylor - was not exactly the most likeable character from the first one, so her return isn’t quite so welcome. The supporting cast is decent, but mostly made up of comedy actors like Keith Allen and Mark Williams, adding to the insubstantial feeling. I’m not sorry they made it, but it’s inessential for fans of the first one.

The series was shown on BBC America, but it’s not available on Region 1 DVD yet. You can pick up both stories on a three-disk box set in Region 2 for fairly cheap, though. In fact, you can ONLY get the sequel as part of the set - showing that the Beeb must not have thought anyone wanted to buy it on its own. The DVDs are THIS far away from being bare-boned, with only links to the song sequences, and that’s it. No commentaries, documentaries, text extras, nothing. From the BBC, that’s quite disappointing. Luckily the set is cheap as hell, so that makes up for it.

All in all, a heart recommendation for the first series, and a half-hearted recommendation for the second. Pick it up if you can find it.