Blu-ray Review: ‘George Gently, Series 6’

There are occasionally those really good television shows that manage not only to capture the spirit of the times they’re set in, but also create within their world a microscopic environment reflecting the world around them. In classical theatre when the natural world reflected the action on the stage it was referred to as pathetic fallacy. You know, things like when the horses start eating each other on the night Macbeth kills the rightful king of Scotland. Talk about the world being in a turmoil.

Now there’s not many television shows these days I would even think of mentioning in the same breath as the works of Shakespeare. However, reflecting on the newly released George Gently, Series 6 from Acorn Media, and the way the internal turmoil of the lead characters reflects the ongoing societal turmoil of England in the late 1960s it’s hard not to make the comparison. For those of you who haven’t yet watched “Series 5”, I’d recommend you stop reading now as I’ll be referring back to events in its final episode from here on in.

Both Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) George Gently (Martin Shaw) and his second in command, Sargent John Bacchus, (Lee Ingleby) had been wounded during a shootout in Durham Cathedral. “Series 5” had ended leaving the two men lying in their respective puddles of blood, with us uncertain as to their fates. The question of their condition is answered very quickly in the first of the four episodes contained on the two discs making up this set, “Gently Between The Lines.”

The great thing about this show is with each episode being an hour and a half in length, it not only allows the detectives to solve the case they are working on, but it allows the script to develop sub-plots associated with the lives of the police officers. In “Gently Between The Lines“ we are given a perfect example of how they meld the two worlds together. The episode starts with DCI Gently travelling to visit Sargent Bacchus in the convalescent hospital he has spent six months recovering from the bullet wounds he suffered in the last episode of “Series 5”. However, this is not just a social call as Bacchus has handed in his letter of resignation and Gently has come to find out why he’s decided to quit. When Bacchus insists he’s not coming back to the police, Gently reminds him he has to give four weeks notice, and he wants Bacchus to serve them out on duty with him.

This is probably not the best frame of mind for Bacchus to be in when he and Gently have to investigate the mysterious death of a squatter in police custody. In 1969 city councils across England were razzing the old worker’s housing left over from pre WWII days, and replacing them with apartment blocks. However, not everybody who lived in the old neighbourhoods liked the idea, and in Newcastle, where the death took place, the police were having to forcibly remove people from their homes. This naturally led to anger on the part of the local populations, resentment towards the police and demonstrations protesting the plans. One such demonstration degenerated into a riot in which a police officer was severely injured and numerous people were arrested, including the man who died in custody.

Seeing how the public has turned against the police only feeds Bacchus’ resolve to leave the force. Except there’s more to it then that, and Gently keep pushing him until he gets him to admit what’s really bothering him. In the late 1960s there was no understanding of post traumatic stress disorder, so all Bacchus is able to articulate is his wonder about how many more times he’ll be lucky enough to walk away from a dangerous situation in one piece. When Gently goes into an abandoned building to rescue a young boy Bacchus freezes, unable to put himself into a potentially dangerous situation.

However, it’s not only Bacchus who has a rough time adjusting. In Gently’s case it’s not the trauma of injury he’s having to come to terms with, it’s the way the world around him is changing and his own sense of what’s right and wrong. While we see some indication of this in the first episode where he pushes the investigation into the mysterious death far harder than his superiors like, it really comes to the fore in both the third, “Gently With Honour”, and fourth, “Gently Going Under“, episodes. In the former their investigation into a murder in a gay bathhouse leads them onto a trail which ends with them uncovering drug testing performed on soldiers by the British army. However, it’s not just the drug testing which rocks the ex soldier Gently, it’s the fact the army has covered up abuse at the facility where the experiments were carried out led to the death they had been investigating and a soldier was being made into a scapegoat.

In the final episode of the series Gently comes face to face with changing realities in both his world and the world around him. He and Bacchus are called in to investigate the death of a coal miner whose body has been discovered underground. With the mine in question on the verge of being shut down due to it being almost tapped out emotions are high and there are any number of possible suspects. While the case takes a number of complicated twists and turns revolving around various people’s motives, Gently also finds himself having to deal with pressures from his superiors. His refusal to only go through the motions when it comes to what his superiors consider delicate matters has finally reached a head and they want to promote him away from dealing with criminal cases.

Gently own personal code of conduct has brought into conflict with the police establishment in the past. It was his insistence on investigating police corruption in London which had him transferred up to Northern England in the first place as he was rocking too many boats. In the final episode of this series he tells his superior officer point blank if they want to get rid of him they’ll have to shove him out as he’s not going to take the promotion and make it easy for them.

George Gently, Series 6 is not just an exemplary police show, its also an example of the potential there is for character development in television. Not only do the two main characters work to solve the various murders they’re confronted with, we see how they have to develop and adopt to the world around them and their own personal changing circumstances. While the Blu-ray edition doesn’t have many special features, there are a couple of interesting behind the scenes interviews with both Martin Shaw and Lee Ingleby in where they discuss their characters and the time period the show was shot in. This edition also conforms with the high technical standards we’ve all come to expect from Blu-rays as the sound and video quality are superb. However, this is one show that doesn’t need any technical enhancements to make it great. This is by far still one of the best police procedurals being aired today.

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