Helen West (2002) User Reviews

not up to the usual British mystery standards

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 17 July 2017]

This disappointing series lasted for three episodes. I'm surprised it made it that far.

The Helen West Casebook has to do with a prosecutor for the Crown and her cases.

The problem is that the stories are actually quite good, but the execution is terrible. For one hour and fifteen minutes, the viewer sits through Helen's difficulties with her boyfriend, Chief Superintendent Bailey, and her chauvinistic boss. Then there are two or three subplots. In the last fifteen minutes of the show, all of the subplots come together. That's if you're still watching.

Amanda Burton is lovely and underplayed as Helen, and the rest of the acting is good. The episodes are slow and therefore seem overly long.

A real disappointment.

Excellent Series From a Woman's Point of View!!

[kidboots · 8/10 · 11 April 2013]

Having read a couple of Helen West books I was very much keen to watch this series and I was not disappointed - much!! There are only 3 movie length episodes but they definitely feature a woman's angle from all sides.

1. "Deep Sleep" - Starts with Helen recovering from an operation and things are fine on the romantic front but Helen is not convinced about the death of a chemist's wife that has been called "death by misadventure". Creepy is the only word to describe the chemist (Dermot Crowley), most of the customers think he is a saint but he has lustful fantasies about his young assistant and her little boy doesn't like him (some children have a sixth sense about things). This episode was intensely gripping and exciting - especially the last minute rescue of the drugged victim.

2. "Shadow Play" was extremely slow to get started but after the first 45 minutes pieces started slotting into the jigsaw. There was a bit too much of Helen West's relations with Bailey and not enough of the criminal plot which involved a man completely destroyed by his wife's disappearance with their daughter almost 20 years before. He then starts following children around - but is he as innocent as he claims??

3. "A Clear Conscience" deals with domestic violence. In a chilling tale of a sadistic boxer, a psychotic brother and a young woman caught up in it all who just happens to be employed as a cleaner by Helen West.

Amanda Burton does a tremendous job as Helen. The first episode is far and away the best. The other two were both slow to get going and the romantic entanglements of Helen and Bailey took up more time with each episode.

Highly Recommended.

Much ado about nothing

[ikanboy · 6/10 · 5 October 2012]

I can see why they only had 3 episodes of this. It goes at a languorous pace, and in the episodes I've seen no-one does much work. Amanda Burton plays a Prosecutor who doesn't do any prosecuting-we do get to see her sitting in court-with a detective boyfriend who doesn't do much detecting, and we get to see way to much of their very boring private lives. The vetting of the scripts is very poor; in the second episode a killer finds out his prey's whereabouts without any information being given to him about it. Like too many Brit cop/law shows the process seems riddled with weak discipline and even weaker justice. It's a lazy series, with lazy writing, lazy editing, and......Yawn!

First entry in the new series, "Deep Sleep" gives Helen an interesting case.

[fisherforrest · 20 June 2002]

Here's an interesting crime story about a pharmacist with a lustful eye on his young apprentice after his wife dies of an apparent heart attack. Helen West, recovering from an operation, has her hackles raised by the whole situation and sets out hot on the trail when chloroform is found in the wife's blood. The pharmacist is a suspect, naturally, but there are others as well. Purists in the mystery genre may think that the love affair of Helen and Chief Inspector Bailey is overly obtrusive. Add to that some of the worst TV movie editing yet and you have room to cavil. The acting is pretty good, especially Amanda Burton as Helen, and the London backgrounds are well photographed. I rate it 7/10.