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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 439024" data-attributes="member: 23">1.05-1.10; 2.01-2.03While I may be failing a little in my rewatching posts, it’s not for want of enjoyment. Almost every time a series takes a while to click with me, I vacillate between two options: either (1) it’s taking a while to adjust to the tone or (2) the series has genuinely improved as it’s found its feet. This time I’m quite resolute in feeling it’s mostly the latter.Either way, I felt that as Series One progressed it developed a sparkle. The filming seemed sunnier and the scripts better crafted. Certainly there was no danger of my attention drifting as the plots felt increasingly compelling. One of the most enjoyable for me was a good old murder-mystery (possibly in the Midsomer style) with the future Lynda La Plante playing a young housekeeper suspected of trying to kill her wealthy employer for financial gain. It had the lot, including a bit of a twist. I felt bad for enjoying it quite so much as it felt rather atypical and not specifically Bergerac (it’s a “moveable feast” kind of story that could have been used for any number of detective or crime series). The series has improved further with some tweaks for Series Two.It’s out with Francine - a perfectly serviceable supporting character, but an ill-suited romantic pairing for the series’ lead (tellingly, when I watched the initial scenes of Series Two’s first episode, I spent some time believing that Jim and Francine were out walking, only to realise that he was actually hugging and talking to his daughter, Kim). I was aware Francine was only in early series but didn’t know how she departed. This added a sense of jeopardy to Francine being held hostage in the final episode of Series One as I genuinely thought they might do a Teresa Bond and kill her off. Instead, she’s simply done away with in expositional dialogue telling us she returned to France for a visit at Christmas and decided to stay.The series wastes no time in introducing a new character to become romantic interest. Happily, Marianne Belshade is played by Celia Imrie who is not only rather more age appropriate (she’s a mere nine years younger than John Nettles) but also a stronger, feistier character who has genuine presence and good chemistry. There’s a bit of a “will they/won’t they” angle, which is promising, particularly given the clashes in their initial scenes.In both her episodes so far, Jim has tried to find out information about one of her clients as part of his investigation which she has refused to give up in deference to client confidentiality. Which I suppose is Series Two’s version of the “tour guide” angle the previous year, where the girlfriend’s career kept getting them involved in the story of the week. I’m curious about Jim’s status with the force. Early in Series One, there was a question mark over whether he would continue after his injuries and he was on a kind of probation until it was resolved. This angle (unless I’ve not noticed something, which is quite possible) seems to have been quietly dropped, and yet Jim is still very much a loose cannon. He’s always swiping evidence from crime scenes and barging into places to snoop without a warrant or any kind of authority. As an example, one of the latest episodes I watched saw him travel across to London under the guise of being a potential house buyer in order to snoop round a suspect’s house and extract information from his unwitting wife. Guest-star watching is good fun in this series. Some of those seen in this run include Dandy Nichols, Anthony Head, Greta Scacchi, Sarah Douglas, Patrick Mower, James “the wine has reacted with the cork” Cossins, Warren Clarke and Joanne Whalley (the future Mrs Val Kilmer). Something that strikes me about this series is that I’m reminded at times of Jaws. Both are set on small islands, removed from a mainland, that is a haven for tourists and the wealthy. Even the interiors of buildings like town halls have similar aesthetics and energies. Each has a relatively small population where word gets round quickly and residents do what they can to keep things running, sometimes wearing several hats and sometimes being the sole person doing their job. The character who really brought this home to me was Dr Lejeune the police pathologist. I was reminded of the medical examiner from Jaws (played in turn by a real county medical examiner who lived on the real island portraying the fictitious one). Every time Lajeune reappears, I’m reminded that this is a small place and he is the only ME in town and one of the few on Jersey.</blockquote>

Verification: Who played JR Ewing?