Telly Talk: Unlucky for some
Ruth Rendell has a bit of a mixed reputation.
On the one hand, there were many years of Inspector Wexford, with George Baker taking to the telly with his reassuring rural tones, never really running after any baddies but reliably catching them. And on the other, if not adapted well this best-selling crime writer can come across as a poor man’s Agatha Christie a century late and a cliché too many. Still, like her period predecessor, Rendell does attract a classy kind of actor for her adaptations, so the proof really is in the pudding – and the watching – as to whether it’ll be high drama or Digestives at high tea; particularly good or pedestrian; Prime Suspect or The Bill.
Thirteen Steps Down is the latest Rendell adaptation, starring Geraldine James as a cantankerous old landlady of the Miss Haversham mould, and Luke Treadaway (of Brit monster flick Attack The Block) as her creepy lodger. It’s odd to see Geraldine James hunched over in poisonous malice, sniping at her well-meaning visitors and fumbling with her pills. As such a strong and upright actress, it feels as if she’s sending up the genre she’s participating in, as if she has absolutely no sympathy at all she can draw upon for the character she’s inhabiting.
Luke Treadaway as loner Mix Cellini is a curious character. Charming one moment and abrasive the next, his fascination with the serial killer Dr Christie and bygone days manages to straddle being bizarre and routinely contemporary in an era of true crime books topping the bestseller lists and ‘retro’ being the best intro to any hipster gathering. He skirts the world of the rich and the beautiful as a fitness equipment repairman, both invisible and the proverbial sore thumb as the subject of his fascination – fast-rising supermodel Nerissa Nash – endures his stalker-like devotion. You almost expect every door to creek with set-ups this familiar. No one says what he did with small animals when he was young, but from the look in his eye you’d be afforded a fair bet it wasn’t open a rescue centre.
Thirteen Steps Down (the number of steps it is between Treadaway’s lodgings and James’ main abode) has a good cast and reasonably high production values, but its script and direction are stagey and at times downright clunky. Clearly this doesn’t always stand in the way of a good murder mystery or thriller; subtle doesn’t always win the acclaim or the plaudits, so it’s not a crippling affliction, it just feels a bit odd.
Loner Mix’s new girlfriend might not want to respond, when stepping into his streamlined retro studio to the vinyl crooning of Sir Cliff Richard’s ‘The Young Ones’, with: “Haven’t you got anything more modern? I like dance music and hip-hop.” Here’s a clue, love. If you’ve already told him a couple of times that you think he’s creepy maybe he’s not one that’s going to change.
A twist is coming, otherwise there’d be no point in having two parts to this drama. Guessing what it might be is half the fun. After watching part one I might have an inkling, but I’m satisfied I still don’t really know. Job done, then. Cast? Tick. Production? Tick. Direction? As the saying goes, two out of three ain’t bad.
Thirteen Steps Down, ITV1, Tuesday 14 August 2012
