ACT OF RIOT is another fresh-feeling episode of Hannay, this time in rural Scotland where a volatile situation between a mine-owner and the local villagers plays out. It's surprisingly political and feels well-researched in terms of story, and a bunch of familiar faces do justice to their roles. It's also a good primer for the meaning of the phrase "reading the riot act".
2 Reviews
Act of Riot
Prismark107 September 2020
Hannay goes to Scotland to trace his ancestral roots.
He comes across irate locals as their livelihoods are threatened by a mine owner. He is buying the land from the local Laird who has been forced to sell due to death duties.
As Hannay is former mine engineer, he arouses suspicion from the locals. Hanny himself is suspicious of a rabble rouser who he believes is working for the mine owner to get the locals into trouble.
Hannay also meets a young woman in the village who his mother would had liked him to marry. Alison is a schoolmistress and has been seeing the Laird for a few years. She tells Hannay that he seems to attract trouble.
A community at risk of losing their way of life has parallels with what did actually happen in the 1980s. Towns that relied on steelworks, shipbuilding, mining, textiles suddenly found themselves with high unemployment and high social deprivation.
I did think the writing was patchy. The locals were too easily swayed by the rabble rouse who is not even from the village. Also the relationship between the Laird and Alison was strange, you would have thought they would had got married by now.
The great Angus Lennie (Shughie Mcfee from Crossroads) makes a scene stealing turn as the drunk butler for the blind Laird. Not to be outdone, Iain Cuthbertson plays the local Sheriff who is willing to dispense harsh justice.
He comes across irate locals as their livelihoods are threatened by a mine owner. He is buying the land from the local Laird who has been forced to sell due to death duties.
As Hannay is former mine engineer, he arouses suspicion from the locals. Hanny himself is suspicious of a rabble rouser who he believes is working for the mine owner to get the locals into trouble.
Hannay also meets a young woman in the village who his mother would had liked him to marry. Alison is a schoolmistress and has been seeing the Laird for a few years. She tells Hannay that he seems to attract trouble.
A community at risk of losing their way of life has parallels with what did actually happen in the 1980s. Towns that relied on steelworks, shipbuilding, mining, textiles suddenly found themselves with high unemployment and high social deprivation.
I did think the writing was patchy. The locals were too easily swayed by the rabble rouse who is not even from the village. Also the relationship between the Laird and Alison was strange, you would have thought they would had got married by now.
The great Angus Lennie (Shughie Mcfee from Crossroads) makes a scene stealing turn as the drunk butler for the blind Laird. Not to be outdone, Iain Cuthbertson plays the local Sheriff who is willing to dispense harsh justice.
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