The Red Dahlia: Part 1

'Above Suspicion' has some good elements, but also a number of weak ones. It's not bad, but it's not completely gripping either. The first series is slightly better, due to Jason Durr and an interrogation scene that's the best of the entire series, but 'The Red Dahlia' doesn't improve on the first series' flaws and makes more on the way.

Kelly Reilly, despite being a beautiful woman (though maybe unrealistically so, and she's too young), continues to not do much for me, with flat line delivery, limited range and pallid presence. The relationship between her and Langton is still contrived, and again Langton is too much of a sleaze.

The characters are still cliché-ridden and are not particularly interesting, sound is sloppy and out of sync, and the shock value rather gratuitous. Also it is really hard to believe that nobody has knowledge of the Blue Dahlia, one of the most famous unsolved there is.

However, it is a good-looking series and never is over-drab or choppily edited. The story, despite the over-familiarity, didn't have me doing something else or looking at my watch, and there is some atmosphere. Interrogations are interesting and there are fewer clumsy scenes.

Acting is quite decent, Ciaran Hinds is commanding and doesn't phone in, and while no Jason Durr Simon Williams is suitably menacing.

Overall, 'The Red Dahlia' evoked mixed feelings. 5/10 Bethany Cox

A decent story, but let down by serious failings that reduce its 'star rating' considerably. It needs a complete suspension of the viewer's logic to imagine that the most inexperienced detective would instantly become the 'king-pin' among her more senior and worldly-wise colleagues. Far more likely that her presence and attitude would be greatly resented.

Some good acting, but with the notable exception of Cirain Hinds, who is over-acting to a ridiculous degree. His character is loud and unpleasant, and often perfectly ludicrous. And the suggestion that there would be a simmering of sexual attraction between the young DC and Hinds as the DCI is ridiculous.

Finally, a small but significant point. However tempting it is for lefty writers and producers to denigrate all things 'Tory', it is a mistake to involve a reporter from the 'Daily Telegraph'. Of all the newspapers least likely to ignore police advice on a 'news blackout' the 'Telegraph' would top the list; it is no tabloid and employs real professionals.

A woman cut in half is found in a park. DC Anna Travis (Kelly Reilly) connects the case to the murder of Elizabeth Short in 1947 L.A. It was the infamous Black Dahlia case. The victim is Louise Pennel and her case is dubbed the Red Dahlia. Another victim is discovered. Anna sleeps with journalist Richard Reynolds who reports the details of the case. Her boss DCI James Langton (Ciarán Hinds) is angered by the leak.

It's the second series of the Lynda La Plante novels. Recycling the Black Dahlia case doesn't bode well for originality. There isn't anything new that countless TV police procedural haven't done. Anna is a sexual character and I have no problem with the show playing up that part. I still have problems with her flirting with Langton. However, the two leads are solid and makes this more than what it is.

I gave it a chance, I really did, but La Plante's latest was as plodding as a flat-footed policeman.

This was a strictly by-the-numbers "thriller" that offered no thrills and little in the way of decent acting. Even the normally excellent Sylvia Syms was relegated to the role of a forelock-tugging housekeeper who may, or may not, have been involved in the case's frankly ludicrous conclusion.

As others have said, Ciarán Hinds was channeling the ghost of Jack Regan in his portrayal of the no-nonsense old-fashioned copper, even down to getting the women in the office to fetch his coffee and bacon sandwiches.

Female lead Kelly Reilly lacked the acting ability the role required, delivering her lines with all the passion of a sat nav while, as the prime suspect, Simon Williams wore out his dentures chewing the scenery.

Unfortunately, not even the excellent murder victim special effects could save the viewer from three turgid hours of this drivel. If anyone else had written this, it would never have been made, so I can only assume that La Plante used up one of her three lifelines to get this on prime time ITV.

Once again Linda La Plante's production company has churned out another of her novels and turned it into an ITV Drama. As Murder Dramas go, it is watchable, but it also filled with clichés and errors. For example, when friends of the first victim all say that she had taken to wearing a red rose in her hair, and there is no mention of a red dahlia, why does the character of Travis say, 'that's not a Dahlia, it's a red rose' when reading an article about the first murder? And later when the journalist mentions The Black Dahlia case, Travis replies- 'The Black What?'

The acting of both leads is quite wooden, with Reilly fluttering her eyelids and somehow making the same stupid mistakes all over again. I guess really it is down to having a bad script and some terrible actors. Langton is gruff and sometimes fatherly, but always a stereotype somehow.

Anyone watching La Plante's dramas will notice that she has once again used an already used plot (this time a real life murder). She did the same with her Trial and Retribution: Romeo and Juliet, where she stole the entire plot from the film The Vanishing. Basically she needs to come up with a few new ideas.

Basically, I do not recommend this drama.