While there are difficulties facing any film or television company setting a project in the past, most are easily overcome with just a little research. How did men and women wear their hair? What were the clothes like? Questions like these can be answered through a few trips to any library or museum. Shows set in recent history have it even easier as magazines and other media can usually be counted on to at least give an idea of what was fashionable during the time in question. However, while there is usually no problem in dressing a period piece, other, less tangible aspects, of recreating an era present far more difficulties.
Probably the most difficult of these is to try and recreate societal values and present them without comment, no matter how different they might be from those held by contemporary society. The more recent the history, the more difficult the task becomes as the differences become less cut and dried as attitudes evolve towards ones closer to our own. Complicating the matter even further is having to take into account how the pace of change came at different rates of speed to different areas. This was especially true in a country like England in the early 1960s where the impetus for change ran into into the stone wall of propriety and tradition. While there were some voices calling for change, many, from all walks of life, were happy to maintain the status quo.
However, change can't be put off, even in the remote areas of Northumberland where Inspector George Gently, former London cop, has settled in an attempt to start over again after the death of his wife. George Gently: Series 3, being released on June 28 by Acorn Media Group, finds Gently (Martin Shaw) and his sergeant, John Bacchus (Lee Ingleby) having to navigate through uncharted waters as they investigate two very different murder cases. In both "Gently Evil" and "Peace & Love" they are forced to deal with issues which to us might seem run of the mill, but in that era were barely heard of, let alone dealt with publically.
In "Gently Evil", a young woman of questionable reputation is found brutally murdered in her apartment. Just prior to the murder, neighbours heard voices raised in argument and one even witnessed a man running from the apartment.
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