Burnside the series was a failure for a number of reasons which have been dealt with in other reviews and Christopher Ellison himself has made his own criticisms of the show. It is a real shame that the show couldn't either carry over some of the flavour of The Bill or forge it's own path more successfully because Burnside is one of the great characters of British TV.
Episodes 5 and 6 of Burnside constitute Story 3 of the series. Story 1 was meh, story 2 was a disaster which spent too much time over Zoe Eeles, as Burnside put it, 'shaving her fanny' in order to tempt a serial killer with the end result being a complete embarrassment for all involved.
Story 3 however is a bit of a minor masterpiece. Burnside had some really good casting, after the main trio, Tony Selby, Paul Nicholas and Shane Ritchie are all class acts and elevated the material. But what makes this particular story is a real powerhouse performance by Christian Solimeno as Dale Vickers, a smiling wideboy gangster with epilepsy. Solimeno is all over the screen and at first it feels like he is overacting his socks off, but the character coalesces like a pearl and by the end you realise the performance is a real thing of beauty, even to the point of stealing the show from Ellison and Justin Pierre who, as Sergeant Summers, carries most of the police side of things this time. The story has other flaws, the writing takes convenient shortcuts at times, but it's definitely an enjoyable watch and Solimeno's performance is outstanding.
Episodes 5 and 6 of Burnside constitute Story 3 of the series. Story 1 was meh, story 2 was a disaster which spent too much time over Zoe Eeles, as Burnside put it, 'shaving her fanny' in order to tempt a serial killer with the end result being a complete embarrassment for all involved.
Story 3 however is a bit of a minor masterpiece. Burnside had some really good casting, after the main trio, Tony Selby, Paul Nicholas and Shane Ritchie are all class acts and elevated the material. But what makes this particular story is a real powerhouse performance by Christian Solimeno as Dale Vickers, a smiling wideboy gangster with epilepsy. Solimeno is all over the screen and at first it feels like he is overacting his socks off, but the character coalesces like a pearl and by the end you realise the performance is a real thing of beauty, even to the point of stealing the show from Ellison and Justin Pierre who, as Sergeant Summers, carries most of the police side of things this time. The story has other flaws, the writing takes convenient shortcuts at times, but it's definitely an enjoyable watch and Solimeno's performance is outstanding.