British detective show ‘The Chelsea Detective’ has released on BookMyShow Stream finally. Starring Adrian Scarborough and Sonita Henry in lead roles, is the show worth your time? Read the full review to find out.
Director: Darcia Martin, Richard Signy
Cast: Adrian Scarborough, Sonita Henry, Peter Bankolé, Lucy Phelps, Sophie Stone, Davood Ghadami, Anamaria Marinca, Aiylah Bhimani
Available On: BookMyShow Stream
Duration: 4 Episodes Around 90 Minutes Each
Arnold (Adrian Scarborough), whose lifestyle on a battered houseboat in Chelsea's Cheyne Walk contrasts sharply with the affluent elite whose crimes he helps solve alongside partner D.C. Priya Shamsie (Sonita Henry). Will the two be able to solve some of the murders in suburban Chelsea? Or will the two have to face failure at the hands of the criminals? Well, for that you’ll have to watch the show.
Adrian Scarborough and Sonita Henry carry the weight of the presentation on their shoulders. They definitely have managed to do good. Even though their characters didn’t have too much of a differential arc to act upon, their performances, which were rather monotone, managed to serve the storyline perfectly. While their professional lives were the high points of their performances, the time when their personal lives are shown, the act definitely dipped low.
Besides Scarborough and Henry, none of the other performances were?notice-worthy. The characters were present and even had quite a few dialogues, but none of them couldn’t leave a lasting impact. Even the characters of the murderers were not so pronounced that you would be guessing from the start that they could be one of the potential murderers. That could have been a conscious choice on the part of directors Darcia Martin and Richard Signy, thereby keeping the unpredictability of the plot going till the very end.
Very rarely do detective shows manage to hold you on when the episodes are 90 minutes long, but ‘The Chelsea Detective’ has managed to do that. Writers Peter Fincham, Peter Fincham, Glen Laker, and Liz Lake need to be credited for keeping the narrative taut throughout. A couple of narratives were slightly unnecessary for the flow of the story, but they managed to make the cops look more human. Even then every one of the four murder mysteries has a proper start, built up in the middle, and a climactic finish. Writing is definitely the strongest forte.
The unpredictability of the 4 murder mysteries ensures that the viewer is enjoying the chase as much as the detectives on the show. Directors Darcia Martin and Richard Signy haven’t filled the narrative with gore, which is the usual norm in murder mysteries and detective shows. On the contrary, they’ve managed to keep it clean for any audience age group. To add to that there is subtle humour going on between the officers, which shows that even amidst such tough situations they’re able to keep their calm and crack a joke here or there. That’s something that usually detective shows don’t do, and they make it too serious. Martin and Signy tried to make these mundane cops feel more human, which was a welcome change to see.
Ian Arber’s background score is eerily haunting and apt for the show. He manages to set up the feel of a Chelsea suburban area and at the same time make the chills of the crime run down your spine.
While Chelsea is known worldwide for its football team and the soccer grounds, in ‘The Chelsea Detective’ a welcome change was to not see any of the stories set up in and around the football team. Cinematographers Rob Kitzmann and Tom Hines have showcased the district of Chelsea beautifully ensuring that you get that feel of a suburban neighbourhood. And they’ve managed to show Chelsea from a different perspective which is away from the shining lights of the football stadiums. I would say, job well done!
Editors David Barrett and Xavier Russell could have chopped the episodes into shorter ones. Rather than having 4 episodes of 90 minutes each, it wouldn’t have harmed to have half of that with around 8 episodes in total. BookMyShow Steam has managed to do that for the OTT release, but that sadly leaves a few of the episodes rather abruptly ended. It would have been great had that cutting short of the episodes happened right at the editor’s table itself during the post-production, which would have left the endings smoother.
Yes
Even though the episodes of ‘The Chelsea Detective’ are lengthy, the show never really gets boring. There are a couple of tracks which aren’t that necessary and could have been avoided, however, they made the character look more human, and not just like Robocops. The unpredictability of the stories and the way the makers managed to hold onto the audience’s attention throughout is what makes this stand out from the other murder mysteries. I am definitely hoping to see a?second?season. This is a definite Must Watch. I am going with 4 stars.