Just so...so bad

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Watching 'Edge of Darkness' almost 30 years after it was made is an interesting experience. One can witness the dry, minimalistic script of Troy Kennedy Martin; and the strong performances from the cast. There's a glimpse also at a Britain that already seems surprisingly dated: not just in it's look and feel, but also in its uncynical nervousness (by which I'm suggesting, I suppose, that to be blasé is to be more cynical than to be paranoid). In the age of cruise missiles, a consignment of plutonium was hot stuff in more senses than one - not just a long-term environmental threat, but a weapon to destroy the world, a hand-holdable weapon of mass destruction (if, like one of the protagonists in the drama, you don't mind facing the consequences). Plutononium mania drives the plot: the weakness of the story is that once you strip out this theme, it doesn't make a huge amount of sense. But remember this was the time of the miners' strike, and the politicisation of the police associated with that, and the drama's ambiguous mood starts to make sense. Star Bob Peck, understated but passionate throughout, died young and left us a sadly reduced legacy compared with what might have been.

I agree with those who say Edge Of Darkness is one of TV drama's finest moments.That it is set in it's time so instantly 'dated', matters not, that's the point.The Prime Minister is a she, an ex actor is US President, there is a new idea called the 'Star Wars' attracting the nuclear and defence industries.Bob Peck, so much missed, gives an incredible performance, the delectable Joanne Whalley will never be in anything better, the always reliable Joe Don Baker shines in a part he was born to play. The murkiness of the interconnected worlds of the civil service, politics, defence, the nuclear programmes, are well shown and credible.The 'Crimewatch' TV programme Craven appears on, asking for the public's help in investigating crimes, was as shown, with the same presenter then, for real. A rarely used device in drama then, it adds to the impact and credibility. (And anyone who has been to the Barbican complex in London, can understand how the police searching for those who have broken into the MI5 computer, could get themselves lost!)I disagree with those who say the first episodes were slow, they set the scene and built the tension, those not aware of the wider politics of 1984/5 Britain might find it a little hard to navigate however.Leading to another 'real life' cameo, the speaker from the Labour Party early in Ep.1 at Emma's college, decrying funding cuts, was then, is now, Labour MP Michael Meacher, on the left of the party (who then dominated), some calling him 'Tony Benn's Representitive On Earth'. Meacher became more moderate and was in Tony Blair's cabinet as Environment Minister until 2001, every time I saw him on screen I always thought of EoD.Making a movie version, 'updated', inevitably relocated to the US, was never going to work, we have a saying here, 'trying to put a Quart into a Pint pot'. With the inevitable dumbing down as so much of Hollywood continues to be insultingly patronising to it's audience.None of that in the original.Even this Clapton-phobe liked the soundtrack too.So buy the DVD and immerse yourself, I got my copy for just £3 in a sale, for 5 hours of the best quality drama-and people still talk of 'rip-off Britain?'

I first watched this when it was first shown on the BBC back in the eighties and thought it was a contender for the best television drama that I'd seen, twenty odd years later I still feel that way.Bob Peck plays DI Ronald Craven, a Yorkshire detective who's daughter is killed in the opening scenes, initially he thinks that he was the intended target but when he discovered that she was the sole survivor from a break it at a nuclear storage facility (Northmoor) he isn't so sure.When he travels down to London he is met by Pendleton and Harcourt, two people working in a covert government agency who in turn introduce him to Texan CIA operative Darius Jedburgh, played by Joe Don Baker. As the story proceeds they investigate what is going on at Northmoor and to eventually break in.I won't say more about the plot as it could spoil it. I'll just say that all of the acting is superb especially that of Bob Peck and Joe Don Baker, both on career best form. If you buy just one television mini series on DVD this should be the one.

I first saw a small clip of Edge of Darkness while visiting Britain during the 1986 BAFTA award ceremony and the imagery has haunted me ever since. After that I have seen it in several occasions, and even if I risk downplaying masterpieces like Bergman's "Fanny & Alexander" or Kieslowski's "Dekalog", for me this is still "the" TV series of all times.For once every single piece of the production is fully supporting each other. Acting is superb, cinematography and editing terrific and music (by Eric Clapton) creates an unique atmosphere. Director Campbell and his team really knew their medium (this series actually looks better in a small TV set than on a large screen. After all, it was *designed* to be viewed that way!) At 1980s, the style and quality of Darkness was revolutionary. 20 years later it has been copied so often that it looks almost classical.The complex plot that turns from labour union investigation to tale of grief and personal loss, to murder mystery, to international political thriller, to allegory of the eternal fight between forces of good and bad, to analysis of the philosophy behind environmental movement, is today as acute as it was 20 years ago. Most of all, however, Edge of Darkness is an exceptional TV drama that keeps you enchanted for all of its length. And it does offer the ultimate cliffhanger before the final episode...