What is memorable about Kelly Reilly, who played Travis in ITV1’s two-parter, is her stunning looks. But as a performer, she ghosted through this murder investigation with little spark of life or identity.
Travis features in four La Plante novels and was billed as a new TV hero here. But part of the problem with the drama was that she had little to do apart from look great and follow orders. She read files, threw up at the crime scene, and looked wide-eyed round the incident room
Dumping John Savident into Swimming Pool
The moment, in episode one, when she was sent to Spain, and in her girlish voice threatened to tip dirty, wheelchair-bound ex-cop Southwood (former Corrie man John Savident) into a swimming pool, came out of the blue and was pretty hard to believe.
What was so disappointing about all this was that La Plante has created so many compelling women characters – the whole gang in Widows, Helen Hewitt in The Governor and, most obviously, Jane Tennison in Prime Suspect.
What Would Helen Mirren Have Done?
Would Tennison, played with conviction by Helen Mirren, say nothing and scurry away on hearing colleagues bitching behind her back?
Travis could supposedly intimidate a corrupt former cop but not front-up to workmates bad-mouthing her for wearing the same outfit everyday – tight black skirt and white shirt (a school-uniform look that added to the impression she was a moody sixth-former who’d somehow wandered into the investigation).
Like so much else about Travis, her dress habit was not explained. Nor, during the hunt for a serial killer, was there any clue to what made her special as a copper. She was a rookie on the investigation because DCI James Langton, played by Ciarán Hinds, knew her policeman dad. Not much of a story arc there.
Ciarán Hinds and Jason Durr Steal the Show
Hinds was the star of episode one, playing a character with hidden corners and macho charisma. Knockout performance in episode two, by a mile, was from Jason Durr as the movie star suspected of murdering at least seven women.
His character, Alan Daniels, asked Travis out on a date. Langton tells her to go ahead, intending to use her as bait, and feeds Daniels false information through Travis about the investigation that eventually helps to trap him.
Caught, Daniels insists on giving his grisly statement to Travis and again she has little to do but watch as the heartthrob lays bare his childhood trauma at the hands of his prostitute mother. His charm and smarmy accent dissolve into the flat Mancunian of his boyhood as the monster is exposed by Durr, unforgettably distancing himself from his Heartbeat days.
Kelly Reilly Will Be in Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes
Above Suspicion had its moments but, squeezed into just two episodes, glossed over much that could have given it – and Anna Travis – more power.
Much was made of Kelly Reilly’s father being a real-life policeman and how this would give her performance veracity. But this was always a red herring, unless her father’s career was based on a wonderful figure and pouting lips.
How good an actress is Reilly? Above Suspicion was not great showcase for her. She was in He Kills Coppers last year without stealing the show, and will be seen this year in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes. It’ll be interesting to see how she does up against Robert Downey Jr’s detective.
If Travis returns, Reilly will be helped by the audience learning more about her character, that her parents are both dead and she is on her own in the world, and why proving herself to Langton (who fancies her) is important to her.
And why does she wear the same outfit every day?
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