Kudos to murder mysteries

You spend an age waiting for a good whodunnit? to appear and then two come along at once and worse, broadcast at the same time, as was the case on Monday night.

 

It was Broadchurch (ITV) versus Mayday (BBC) but as the heavyweights battled for viewership the real winner was behind the scenes, as production company Kudos made both and is clearly laughing out the bankable gate. On setting up the premise alone, at the time of writing, Broadchurch is edging the two-horse race. I say edging, because Mayday is to finish on Thursday so I don’t know how the finale will fare ratingswise.

Both shows feature the abduction of a child and the effect it has on a small community, with stellar casts and stunning settings. So how to tell them apart? They took different approaches on the format, which is a blessing as if they had both gone for the Monday nights option there may have been, ahem, bloodshed.

The plot: Mayday is a five-parter screening every night this week since Sunday. As a community assembles to watch the May Day parade, the 14-year-old May Queen, Hattie Sutton, is MIA, leaving only a bike behind in the woods and a bad feeling in the air. Broadchurch, on the other hand, is an eight-parter screening over the next seven weeks. As a community gathers to watch the sack race at the local school’s sports day, 10-year old Danny is a no-show and is later found at the foot of the cliffs.
So both similar enough then, but that’s where the road diverges. Visually they are both stunning but utterly different, Mayday taking a murkier approach set near woodland where neighbours don’t really seem to like each other; Broadchurch on the sunny Dorset coast complete with lovely beach and, as yet, friendly folk.

The casts are equally appealing. When Aiden Gillen popped up in Mayday my instinct was to shout “HIM! Hedunnit!” Never yet have I seen Gillen play a character anything other than shady at best. He’s at it again here as the father who takes his anger at life out on his son, still grieving for his dead wife. Peter Firth is downright creepy collecting clippings of the Hattie and decapitating dolls among some of his weirder acts. Luckily this is counterbalanced by the lovely Sophie Okonedo and Lesley Manville, which probably means Okonedo is the culprit if we are going for the least likely option.

Olivia Colman and David Tenant head up Broadchurch as the polar-opposite detectives, with Jodie Whittaker and Andrew Buchan as the traumatised parents and Vicky McClure as a hack down from the big smoke with little in the way of morals. It’s also got another Dr Who alum in Arthur Darvill as a way too cheery vicar, Harry Potter’s David Bradley and Pauline Quirke.

Broadchurch was masterful in setting the tone and turning the horror crank up to 11. Tennant’s DI Alec Harding, fresh from botching a previous investigation, has been recruited in over the head of DS Ellie Miller (Colman) to her utter disappointment. But we haven’t time to dwell on this fact as a nightmare is unfolding in the village with the news of a missing boy, ultimately found at the bottom of a cliff. The grief of his parents is portrayed in all its grisly detail and is gut-wrenching stuff to watch.

DS Miller is doubly affected, not only does she have to investigate, she’s friends with the parents of the missing child and has a son the same age. She also happens to be the aunt of a local journalist determined to make the front pages, to whom she accidentally revealed the identity of the murder victim before she should have. In this, Olivia Colman is a powerhouse. It’s a commanding, emotional performance and you can’t help but feel that she will be put through the ringer before the finish.

Well-paced and stylish, Broadchurch is off to a good start. Which brings us back to Mayday, which was indeed in need of rescue by Tueday night’s offering.

Mayday’s suspects were lined up almost from the get-go on Sunday – a husband lying about walking the dog, another family man suspiciously showering in the middle of the day, a widower shoving a bag into a padlocked press, you get the idea. Each of the male characters got their own, almost farcical, camera close-up, complete with brooding stare. They are so unsavoury that either could have done it but all should be locked up regardless, if only for the safety of humanity.

Monday’s episode saw everyone trudging through the area for clues of the girl’s whereabouts, all the while casting wary glances in each other’s direction as doubts floods everyone’s conscience at one stage or other. A village can only bury only so many secrets but with most of the cast acting fairly suspicious, there was more than Hattie’s mystery to get to the bottom of.

I have to admit by Tuesday, I began to not care if they ever solved it. I’ll trudge on though, it’s only until Thursday and just wait until April 1 when Game of Thrones returns and I can get really excited about Aiden Gillen playing underhand creepiness.