Five Days
With the ongoing debate regarding the future of the BBC, which some political parties and media competitors seem hell-bent on destroying, a quick word of support for the Corporation. Last night we settled down to watch the new drama series Five Days, which is running on BBC One this week.
Five Days began with the apparent suicide of a young person who fell into the path of a trans-Pennine train. At exactly the same moment an abandoned baby is found in the disabled washroom of the hospital that the rail suicide is later taken to. Suranne Jones, a fine actress whose range has taken her far beyond her Coronation Street days, plays an off duty police officer who is travelling on the impacted train as she takes her ailing mother to a hospital appointment. First on the train and later at the hospital she becomes embroiled in the suicide investigation and the baby abandonment, seeing a possible link between the two, both of which may also be related to the local muslim community.
This first episode was unsettling and riveting in equal measure, bravely confronting a number of difficult issues. In short, it is the sort of drama the BBC excels at producing. You would wait forever to find homegrown drama of similar quality and ambition on either ITV or Sky.
Politicians intent on neutering the BBC should tread very carefully. The Corporation is a long way from perfect, but it provides an oasis of creativity in what is increasingly becoming a cultural desert in this country and anything that places that at risk will, I believe, ultimately be judged very harshly by the public.
Sermon over. If you missed the first epsiode of Five Days, I strongly suggest getting over to iPlayer and catching up.
The 100 best crime books ever written
Drawing up any lists of "the best ever" anything is an exercise fraught with danger, inviting as it does a tirade of comments and emails ridiculing the writers because they haven't included x, y or z.
So hats off to the brave folk at the Court Reporter blog, who yesterday posted this list of the best 100 crime fiction novels ever. I could, of course, take issue with any number of omissions or inclusions, from Dan Brown being on there to their choice of From Russia With Love as the best of Ian Fleming's Bond.
But I won't. Not least because the list is a reminder of just how poorly read I am in the genre. The fact I have read just 31 of the top 100 suggests I am may not be qualified to comment.
National Crime Fiction Week
Finally, the Crime Writers Association, has launched a standalone website for National Crime Fiction Week, which will run from June 14 to 20. One of the things I have learned in the four years this blog has now been running is that there is a lively, creative and welcoming community of authors, publishers, agents, bloggers and fans in the crime fiction world and I suspect that this dedicated crime week will prompt some excellent events. I'll be giving some thought as to how Material Witness will join in.
