Ann Way Season: Sergeant Cork - The Case of the Bristol Mail
As I commented in the introduction, I have found that focusing on a particular actor's work makes me watch shows I otherwise wouldn't, and Sergeant Cork is a series which I have never seen before. This is because I don't really take to period dramas and don't have the attention to detail necessary for police procedurals and courtroom dramas, and Sergeant Cork is a police procedural series set in the 19th century.
The titular Sergeant Cork is an officer in the then newish Criminal Investigation Department, and much of the theme of the series is the more scientific approach to detection this engendered and the resistance this and other changes in society attracted. The series was quite long-lived, being broadcast from 1963 to 1968, and is apparently highly regarded, although I have been able to find relatively little about it online. There is much more about a comparable series, The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes. I can't explain the apparent difference in online attention, although I would recommend Archive TV Musings's blog posts on this show. Perhaps I should also say that this is the only episode of this show I have watched, so I am quite prepared to have people tell me I have got things wrong.
The Case of the Bristol Mail is about the investigation of a theft from the mail train. However the scene at Scotland Yard is set with an old man protesting that he just can't get used to the use of the telephone, so it feels very much that the series is intended to be as much a fog-filled, gas-lit atmospheric play, so I wonder whether this series might have the potentiol to disappoint some of the fans of police procedurals or of Victorian period dramas. However my own impression is that it is a straightforward account of the detection.
Ann Way's role is limited to a short scene where a detective speaks to her because she was the landlady of one of the suspects, who is missing. I have noticed in the programmes I have gathered together for this series of posts, that her roles tend to be relatively minor ones, yet she is always memorable, and in fact it was this quality which made me want to do this series of posts. Here she is marvellous as the landlady with a heavy cold, swathed in a crocheted shawl. It's not quite her dotty old lady role, but could turn into it at any moment.
I don't really have a major criticism of this episode, because it does what it set out to be. It's completely personal but it rather reminded me of why I don't like period dramas, because the comment at the start about not being able to get used to the phone felt a bit forced. It's the same reason I have not been able to watch Mad Men, despite trying it. In that period series it was the smoking which felt wrong: I'm old enough to remember when everyone smoked and it really wasn't thought about much; but in Mad Men it felt like they were showing the audience that everyone was smoking all over the place. You can ape the period, in my opinion, but can't get the mindset right. However this is obviously not really a criticism as such.
I see from online reviews that one of the things online viewers like about this series is seeing actors who were later big names, in relatively minor roles, and this episode is no exception. It reminded me of why I don't like these recurring faces, although obviously other people do.
This is a series which is well worth watching if it appeals to you, although this episode won't be staying in my collection.
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