By Keri O’Shea
Once upon a time, back before the BBC discovered the joys of lowest-common-denominator, Coliseum for Cowards television which allows members of the great unwashed to feel like their opinions matter (dross like Strictly Come Dancing, for instance) it was much more willing to take chances on unusual original series, and Dead Head is one such of these. Fondly remembered by those who saw it the first time around, it’s at least as notable for the fact that, having been shown once, it disappeared. It’s quite odd for the Beeb not to repeat their programmes at all, so Dead Head has acquired something of a reputation – maybe even benefiting by omission, becoming a sort of forbidden fruit. Well, if you count yourselves amongst the original nostalgic audience, you can at last get your hands on a release – and if not, you may well enjoy this in its own right.
What we have here, essentially, is cockney noir. Director Rob Walker worked very hard to establish this classic noir style on the streets of 80s London, uniting visual features such as foggy streets, rain-soaked alleys and urban sprawl with recognisable themes like criminality, a wronged man, and a corrupt establishment. Our protagonist, Eddie (Denis Lawson) is a petty crook who supplements his income with the odd dodgy deal here or there. When he’s instructed to deliver a package to a smart address in London, he takes the job but finds there’s no one in: suspicious, Eddie takes a look in the hat-box he’s carrying and realises it contains the severed head of an unknown woman. Eddie doesn’t know what to do; he panics, and he throws it into the Thames – but it finds its way back to him, via a group of heavies who inform him that he’s been framed for the murder. To stand a chance of escape, Eddie must find out who has set him up and why: his fingerprints are all over the hat-box, and he has limited time before he’s traced. This voyage of discovery takes him all the way to the corrupt heart of British government…
Whilst Dead Head plays out like a Who’s Who of British TV (with a superb star turn by Simon Callow who utterly steals the show, in my ever-humble opinion), it does a decent job of generating atmosphere and suspense despite evidently not having a massive budget to play with. The impoverished London streets look interesting on camera, having that time-capsule feel which you often get with older series like these, the ominous soundtrack works very well and, although the script is a bit clunky in places, all of the actors give earnest performances, creating a sense of curiosity to see how things will play out. By even one episode in, Eddie – albeit a dodgy character in many ways – comes across as something of an Everyman, a person who has been swept up in events completely beyond his control as he struggles to make sense of what has happened to him. The plot thickens steadily and successfully here.
One element which may lose people a little, though (as it did me) is the heavy-handedness with which elements of class are explored in the series. Possibly this is just something which has got ‘lost in translation’ over the twenty-five years or so since Dead Head was made; certainly class exists, certainly it affects people’s lives, but the way in which it’s handled here grates a little. The script, which as noted runs into problems elsewhere, comes apart in some places, the dialogue growing increasingly contrived as encounters between working-class Eddie and the upper class are recounted, and worked against the tension, as much as it’s the case that Eddie is exploited because of his background in so many ways here.
Another potential snag is this: the point in time which sees Dead Head’s re-release is a real high point in TV drama. Whilst Dead Head has much to offer, we live in the days of Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Dexter…and although there is a substantial amount of trash on our screens, I’d still say that we are living through something of a golden age of TV. Can Dead Head stand up to the examples given, for those of us who aren’t driven by nostalgia for having seen this the first time around?
Well, of course Dead Head lacks the polish of the types of programmes for which we can thank the likes of HBO, that much is certain. We’re also used to high-octane drama, which Dead Head doesn’t have on offer. There are moments of intense violence, sure, but overall this is more of a steady paced-programme which relies on mood. It is a worthwhile watch in its own right: it’s fairly gritty, fairly bold and the performances are strong enough to overcome the few difficulties it runs into. I wasn’t on the edge of my seat, but I was engaged enough to want to know more. And, hey, even if you aren’t familiar with this at all, it’s an interesting glimpse into how the mighty have fallen; more heads in hat-boxes and less prats on ice wouldn’t go amiss.
Dead Head will be released by Eureka Entertainment on 15th April 2013