George Gently, Series 7 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.5

George Gently, Series 7 Blu-ray Movie Review

Do the Right Thing

Reviewed by Michael Reuben September 29, 2015

Warning: This review assumes that the reader is familiar with all previous seasons of George Gently. If you are new to the series, proceed at your own risk. The review of Series 1 contains a spoiler-free introduction to this British police series.

Chief Inspector George Gently (Martin Shaw) routinely counsels his junior officers not to get angry, and generally he practices the same virtue. But one of Gently's defining qualities has always been an inner core of moral certitude that made him a frequent annoyance to his colleagues (especially the corrupt ones) and a scourge to criminals. Gently escaped anger by repurposing it as fuel for his sense of righteousness, and he did the same with other negative emotions. In the early series of George Gently, the Chief Inspector bore his grief over his wife's murder by rediscovering his passion for law enforcement in his new home in Durham. Time and new relationships, first with Sergeant John Bacchus (Lee Inglesby) and now with WPC Rachel Coles (Lisa McGrillis), have taken some of the edge off Gently's passion.

In the seventh and latest series of George Gently, series creator Peter Flannery has given Gently's mean streak a rude awakening by confronting the Chief Inspector with his own mortality, and not at the hands of some criminal adversary, as in Series 5. In Gently's first scene of this series, he experiences symptoms of a mystery illness, for which the diagnosis and prognosis are gradually revealed throughout the episodes. Gently puts on a good front at work, but the very effort betrays just how badly shaken he is by this development. The reminder that his time is limited reawakens a boldness reminiscent of Gently's bulldog style when he first arrived from London.

Series 7.1: "Gently with the Women" (Apr. 29, 2015)

Rachel Coles's disgust at the dismissive manner in which Bacchus and two other officers take a rape complaint from a prostitute named Tina (Emily Woof) prompts Gently to review how his department handles rape cases. The Chief Inspector is shocked to learn that most such complaints never lead to charges; fewer still result in convictions. "How did I not know about this?" he asks with genuine bewilderment. Out of respect for her boss, Coles gives him an opportunity to withdraw the question before providing the obvious answer: "Because you never asked."

Gently's concerns acquire new urgency when the body of an unidentified victim is found near the river, the victim of a brutal rape-murder. The investigation may or may not relate to a recent crackdown on prostitution in the area, which resulted in an uncomfortable encounter between Bacchus and an officer from a neighboring station named Walter Nunn (Derek Riddell), whose name appears on far too many rape cases where the victim was pressured to retract her complaint. It now seems that one or more of the withdrawn rape complaints may have been the work of a sexual predator, whose physical abuse has escalated to homicide. Finding the perpetrator means reopening old cases, a prospect strenuously opposed by Inspector Nunn.

Complicating matters at work is a personal situation for Bacchus, whose life continues to exemplify the song about looking for love in all the wrong places. After asking "Where is my sergeant?" one time too many, Gently applies his detective skills to answering the question. As a result, the two colleagues become adversaries in a way that we haven't seen since the early days of the series.


Series 7.2: "Breathe in the Air" (May 6, 2015)

The investigation of "Breathe in the Air" provides an unexpected trip into the past for WPC Rachel Coles, when the victim turns out to have recently moved to Easterhope, a formerly thriving manufacturing district that is now largely derelict after a Swiss conglomerate, Silvexpo, acquired and closed the local factory. Coles has vivid memories of playing there with her childhood friend, Esther Carlin, who died tragically at the age of 15. During the investigation, Coles reconnects with Esther's parents, Norman and Bridget Carlin (Nicholas Woodeson and Lesley Nicol), who are delighted to see their daughter's playmate all grown up. Coles is sad to discover, however, that Norman is seriously ill and hasn't long to live.

The victim in the investigation is a physician, Valerie Cullen (Deirdre Mullins), whose body is found in the woods, an apparent suicide from an injection of barbiturates. Bacchus initially considers the case open-and-shut, but Gently is troubled by inconsistencies such as the massive (and recent) bruise on Valerie Cullen's face. The initial interview with Dr. Cullen's co-practitioner, Dr. Plant (Jonathan Cullen; the actor's last name is a coincidence), is less than satisfying, and the notification of her estranged husband, Andrew Cullen (Jason Done), raises even more questions, especially when he insists that the attractive blonde with whom he is having lunch is purely a business colleague, when she obviously is something more. She will shortly be identified as Anna Zweig (Susy Kane), a senior executive of Silvexpo. Andrew Cullen just happens to be a Health and Safety Inspector for the British government whose responsibilities included the now-defunct factory owned by Silvexpo. Shortly, however, he will be accepting a new position in the private sector.

The further Gently and his colleagues dig into Dr. Cullen's life, the deeper the mystery. Why did someone with an aristocratic background and first-class medical credentials choose to practice among the poor? Why did she move to Easterhope? Why was she talking to so many Easterhope residents, and what happened to her notes from those conversations? Confirming that the detectives are onto something meaningful, a cadre of expensive lawyers arrives in Gently's station house making threats, and his superior, Commander Davenport (Mark Aiken), orders the Chief Inspector to close the investigation. But for reasons known only to himself, Gently is in something of a reckless mood, and he can't resist taking one more tilt at the corporate windmills.




Series 7.3: "Gently Among Friends (May 13, 2015)

The "friends" of the title are three men who grew up together: Scott Parker (Nicholas Sidi), Petey McGath (Anthony Flanagan) and Michael Woodruff (Adrian Bower). Now Petey runs a successful America-themed restaurant with his wife, Anita (Emma Cunniffe). Michael has become a powerful union leader, currently engaged in a wildcat strike that has left garbage piled all over the streets of Newcastle. Scott was a visionary city planner, whose dream of redesigning Newcastle depended on city permits that were denied. At a fortieth birthday party for Petey, Scott can barely contain his bitterness as he toasts his old friend.

The next morning, Scott's body is found in a pile of garbage beneath a nearby bridge, presumably a suicide. However, the post mortem indicates that he died before he fell, suggesting that someone has tried to cover up a murder. As Gently, Bacchus and Coles attempt to establish a time line for Scott's movements during and after Petey's birthday party, they enter a thicket of evasions, half-truths and guilty secrets. Much evidence points to Scott's financial desperation, including a pawn ticket issued by the memorably eccentric Geoffrey (Jim Moir), and a substantial outstanding debt to loan sharks that Scott's wife, Jo (Louise Brealey), is being forced to pay in particularly unsavory circumstances. Bacchus goes undercover to deter the loan sharks, but the ruse does not help answer the question of who killed Scott.

More than anything, "Gently Among Friends" is about how longstanding relationships change as circumstances evolve, so that even those who are closest to us may no longer be the people we thought we knew. It's a subject very much on Bacchus' mind as his boss continues to insist that his health is perfectly fine, when Bacchus can clearly see that it is not.


Series 7.4: "Son of a Gun" (May 20, 2015)

On December 24, 1969, the men and women of Gently's station are toasting the forthcoming Yule, but elsewhere in Durham someone's idea of comfort and joy is to rob the Tyne & Wear Bank at gunpoint. Instead of the usual pistols, the four masked bandits brandish Sten submachine guns, a military-grade firearm previously unseen in British crime. When one of the bandits drops his Sten gun while fleeing, a security guard who served in the Army grabs the weapon and fires wildly at the getaway car, transforming a peaceful city street into a war zone. It's an escalation of gunfire that Gently, who served with British forces fighting the Nazis in Africa and Italy, never expected to encounter at home.

The investigation leads to a skinhead gang headed by a charismatic leader named Jonjo Burdon (Jody Latham). The members commit crimes as much for the adrenaline rush as for profit, and their loyalty to Jonjo is absolute, but the guru himself has larger goals and an accountant's eye for profit. (Asked about his drug dealing business, he describes it as "just my paper route".) Unable to develop any solid evidence against Jonjo, Gently agrees to let Rachel Coles go undercover as a party girl seeking a good time at the villain's club, in the hope that he'll hit on her and boast of his accomplishments. Coles understands how dangerous the assignment is, but her greatest fear is what her mother will think when Rachel comes home sporting the bobbed haircut required to give her the right look to blend in at a skinhead club.

The robbery investigation acquires a personal dimension for Gently when he discovers that he knows one of the witnesses at the scene, teenaged Kit McDonald (Patrick McNamee), the son of a former police colleague who died in the line of duty. Gently is happy to see the young man but feels guilty that he hasn't made more effort to look in on him and his mother, Edith (Elizabeth Carling). The detective also suspects that Kit may know more about events than he is telling the police.

By the time those responsible for the bank job are brought to justice, several continuing plots of Series 7 have been wound up. They include Bacchus' messy love life, the question of Gently's long-term health, and Coles's future with the Durham police.

George Gently, Series 7 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

All four episodes of Series 7 were shot on the Arri Alexa by James Aspinall, a veteran of numerous British TV series, including Foyle's War and Call the Midwife. Unlike Series 5 and 6, where Acorn Media compressed two 90-minute episodes (approximately) on each of two BD-25s, Series 7 arrives on two 1080p, AVC-encoded BD- 50s, with a correspondingly higher bitrate (around 25 Mbps per episode). While a higher bitrate doesn't automatically equate to a superior picture, the fact is that these are the best-looking episodes of George Gently since Acorn's first releases, which were 1080i but were also issued on BD-50s. Digitally acquired material can withstand a high degree of compression and still look good, but it looks even better with less aggressive compression.

Sharpness and detail are exceptional throughout, even in darkened interiors and nighttime sequences. The many shadings of gray and brown that characterize the urban landscapes of these episodes are rendered with subtlety, as are the vivid flashes of color that contrast with it, notably the green of the surrounding countryside, the bright blue of Gently's car (which is instantly recognizable) and the rich reds that characterize a number of residential interiors, as well as the brothel in "Gently with the Women". Blacks are deep, and whites (which are plentiful in both the morgue and the hospital where Gently gets his medical evaluation) are never overassertive. A few flashback sequences in "Breathe in the Air" have been desaturated and re-tinted to create the sensation of a childhood memory, but otherwise the palette is realistic.

George Gently, Series 7 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

George Gently's soundtrack continues to be stereo, encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0, and dialogue and sound effects remain clear and effective. Overall, though, the audio impact of Series 7 is markedly different from that of previous series, and the difference is attributable to the score composed by Mark Russell, who also scored the last two episodes of Series 6. Series 7 abandons the urgent introductory theme originally composed by John E. Keane (and used consistently since then) in favor of a reflective, almost mournful tone consistent with the series' darker themes of age and physical infirmity. Russell's compositions during the episodes favor the same style (with an occasional quickening for scenes of high drama such as the bank heists in "Son of a Gun"). The effect is to intensify George Gently's elements of personal drama, a focus that is clearly intended by the scripts. Between the lossless treatment and the stereo separation, the score becomes an integral part of the story, and one of the most effective uses of music since George Gently premiered.

George Gently, Series 7 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Bonus Interviews (disc 2) (1080p; 1.78:1)
• Martin Shaw (2:45): Interviewed on location during the shooting of "Son of a Gun", Shaw discusses his character, the characters of his co-stars and shooting in Durham.
• Jim Moir (stage name Vic Reeves) (2:33): Moir talks about playing the pawnshop owner in "Gently Among Friends" and about watching the moon landing when he was a boy (an event included in "Breathe in the Air").
• Lesley Nicol (2:47): On location, Nicol describes playing Bridget Carlin in "Breathe in the Air". Warning: Spoilers!



• Bonus Trailers: At startup, disc 1 plays trailers for Acorn Media, The Great Train Robbery and The Mystery of Lord Lucan, which can be skipped with the chapter forward button and are not otherwise available when the disc loads.

George Gently, Series 7 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As of this writing, the BBC has not decided whether to order another series of George Gently. If the show were to conclude with Series 7, creator Flannery and his writing team have left no major loose ends. More than any previous group of episodes, however, Series 7 explored a complex dynamic of interlocking skills, weaknesses and mutual support among a tightly knit team of friends and colleagues that would not have been possible without the introduction of the fresh perspective brought by Rachel Coles. Unexpected developments have forced both Gently and Bacchus to re-examine themselves and each other, and the outcome of that process would be well worth exploring. Here's hoping the BBC lets creator Flannery do so. Meanwhile, the Blu-ray set of Series 7 comes highly recommended.