CultBox’s first rule of whodunits is: if the murderer hasn’t appeared by halfway through the story, the resolution is invariably a bit of a copout. Happily, The Other Half Lives – which, incidentally, is a far cleverer play on words than the actual title of the show, although ultimately just as meaningless – sneaked in a late, injury time goal at the end of Episode 1 and thus this enjoyable blend of grumpiness, incest and gory stabbings reaches a conclusion that is suitably satisfying.
Having arrested Ruth (Eva Birthwhistle) for the murder of her estranged husband Jason, rather than the seemingly more likely choice of volatile keyboard wizard Aiden (Theo James), DS Charlie Zailer (Olivia Williams) and DS Simon Waterhouse (Darren Boyd) try to ignore the fraught, furrow-browed cloud of animosity that has been building between them long enough to sweat a confession from their prisoner. Alas, it doesn’t work.
After pairing off briefly to work with the only other CID officers besides the big boss deemed worthy of names – Waterhouse with attractive ‘woolly-back’ DC Williams (Christina Chong) and Zailer with tedious Leeds United fan DC Sellers (Ralph Ineson) – and then exchanging a few snarky preliminary strikes – Waterhouse: ‘Why are you dreaming up theories to fit facts? Stick to evidence!’ Zailer: ‘Human beings have things called “emotions”, Simon. Ring any bells?’ – a full-blown row erupts between them.
The bust-up is portrayed extremely well by Williams and Boyd, with neither resorting to histrionics, and while the latter’s character gets the best of it – mostly because he’s in the right – it’s Zailer who has the last word.
‘Go fuck yourself,’ she snaps, but then decides to do it herself instead. Yes, the tension between them was entirely sexual and once their mutual itches have been scratched, it’s back to the business of solving crime – still as cantankerous as ever, only no longer with each other. Having released Ruth on bail, the post-coital coppers go in search of Aiden’s antecedents, learning of his half-sister Mary (Emily Beecham) and the dysfunction upbringing that brought them closer together than siblings ever ought to get.
Unfortunately, by the time they’ve worked out that it was Mary who killed Jason – not to mention her drunken harpy of a mother ten years earlier – Ruth has already blundered into trouble by visiting the knife-wielding, brother-worshipping, obsessive psycho-bitch at home.
‘You stole Aiden away from me,’ Mary hisses, and after knifing her future sister-in-law and chucking her in the boot of a car, drives to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, where Aiden is performing the piano recital he hopes will resurrect his academic career. Luckily, he’s just finished by the time Mary bursts in with Zailer and Waterhouse in pursuit, as ‘My loony sister is on the run from the Old Bill’ isn’t on the list of justifiable excuses for impaired performance.
After running around the backstage areas for a bit, Mary dashes outside and tells Aiden she loves him for a final time before stepping in front of an oncoming lorry. Ruth is saved and reunited with her pianist paramour, while Waterhouse and Zailer are back where they started at the beginning of part one: all coy and awkward after an impromptu shag.
Everyone else, meanwhile, is left contented with a decent two hours of detective drama but disappointed that there aren’t any more episodes to come. It’s like having a tasty starter and then finding there’s no main course. Female-led British cop thrillers are uncommon enough, and ones as good as this are as rare as a smile from either of its lead characters. Next time, ITV, give us more to get our teeth into.
Aired at 9pm on Friday 13th July 2012 on ITV1.
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