A Review of ITV Drama Collision, Episode One.
Anthony Horowitz Series Hits the Small Screen
Nov 10, 2009
Starring Paul McGann, Kate Ashfield and Philip Davis, Collision is broadcast at 9pm every night until this Friday, and portrays the extent to which road traffic accidents affect so many lives, delving into the background stories of each character involved.
However, these are no ordinary characters as the first episode implies with sinister behaviour rife from the outset. The chief offenders thus far are Dan Rampton (Dean Lennox Kelly), who travels to Holland on a mystery underhand assignment, and Karen Donnelly (Claire Rushbrook) who extracts confidential documents from her employer’s office computer.
Mystery in Abundance
Criminal activity is without doubt present in the premise, and the perpetrators might just have got away with their crimes had the accident not fallen under investigation by D.I. John Tolin (Douglas Henshall).
Tolin is assigned the task of examining the accident due to the involvement of a police car which was in pursuit of another car involved in the crash. His job is to exonerate the force of any blame for the death of a passenger in said vehicle, but it is overtly implied that he will discover a great deal more.
Unfortunately, one cannot help but wish to be as uninformed about these characters’ lives as he is. While it was difficult to familiarise with characters due to the introductory nature of this first episode, it seemed much easier to speculate upon proceedings.
Entertaining yet Contrived
One could be forgiven for expecting Tolin to unravel evidence of drug-smuggling embezzlement, conspiracy to murder and even for him to expose a child porn network, as these probable misdemeanours appear poorly hidden between the lines of narrative. Such a plethora of criminal activity amalgamated into one event is also somewhat contrived, and while providing drama and tension, it all seems a little far-fetched.
The greatest mystery thus far is that of the detective himself. Returning to work following absence for an as yet unknown reason, Tolin remains relatively silent and studies wide-eyed and thoughtfully at the evidence throughout the first instalment. He is an unopened book which thankfully keeps viewers guessing, a time bomb of yet more drama inevitably set to explode on Friday as the series concludes.
That is not to say Collision offers little entertainment. While the preparatory episode travelled rather slowly, the obligatory teasers for episode two appeared to promise more action as the aftermath of the crash is explored. ITV are assured to attain high ratings all week thanks to their intelligent marketing of this production, but whether the show deserves such figures is yet to be determined.
