hard sun

I've decided that Hard Sun is a set of unreleased Luther scripts from a cancelled series subsequently repurposed into a pre-dystopian thriller.

We get a pop-up version of a Luther character, played by Jim Sturgess as a sub Broadchurchian mocknee, and his tough, edgy sidekick with a complicated backstory, played by Agyness Deyn.

To make the old scripts resellable, Luther-style serial killing has been left in, but an ominous Spooks-style backdrop has been added, however fleeting.

It's great to see all the London haunts. Streets behind the Borough Market, the Shard from every angle. Bits of Kings Cross. The Thames shoreline by the OXO tower at low tide. There must be (a) a body discovery or (b) a fight scene coming up. No wonder Sturgess has that wavering LunDun accent.

I've decided that 'tropeaload' could be a new word. It's when a series overdoes the use of certain moments.

Yes, it's okay for the edgy detective to have a secret compartment in the roof of her house where they keep a crazy wall. It's not okay for another serial killing character to also have one. I've also been reminded that she is actually living in a hotel, so that attic must be a lucky coincidence.

Yes, it's okay for the raincoated male detective (hint: like Agyness shows, it should have been Burberry) to turn up on the doorstep of a woman's house at 3am. But is it right when a couple of reels later he turns up at a different woman's front door in similar circumstances?

As for the police station looking like the retro one in Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes. Right to the checkerboard ceiling. One could almost cue a Bowie song. Oh wait. They did.

My musing leads me to think that a three parter thriller was hard to sell. But then melding the detective story and adding in a supermodel, permitted it to get the go-ahead. Go Agyness!

Of course I'll carry on watching it. I've only got two episodes left to go. Maybe I am picking holes in the characterisations, or the plot, as well as waiting for a gargantuan twist, and wondering how they will manage to resolve so many unrelated themes?

Update: or not resolve them?