The penultimate instalment of BBC One’s Cuffs largely centres on Eleanor Matsuura’s Donna (who could front a series all by herself).
This episode begins with her being put forward for a recommendation as a result of her quick thinking in the line of fire that potentially saves the lives of three police officers, and certainly puts a gang behind bars for multiple violent crimes.
But by the end of the episode, she’s suspended for a stupid yet understandable mistake allowing a vulnerable teen to nearly kill herself. While there are good performances all round, it’s Matsuura’s portrayal that’s most interesting, and it’s great to see an episode that centres on her character, even if others regularly get higher billing in the credits.
There are other storylines investigated here, including a return to a domestic violence plot from a few weeks back. This is welcome, not because of the nature of the storyline, but because Cuffs is curiously clumsy when not resolving storylines that don’t directly affect the cast regulars.
This is understandable (there’s only so much you can do in a hour when there are at least eight characters’ lives to follow) but it can be frustrating. While it’s not important for every ‘guest’ crime case to be resolved, it can be refreshing to see where more of these stories end up.
Cuffs continues to display a minor obsession with frontline staff being stretched beyond the means and not getting the support they need (it’s the engine behind Donna’s rise and fall story), and is getting generally better at using the Brighton locale as a hive of crime and punishment, even if the dense nucleus of criminals in such a small location does occasionally make things feel like an attempt at CSI: East Sussex.
The writing is aware of this, having officers tease each other for their attempts at Horatio Caine type quips: ‘Well done,’ Ryan (Ashley Walters) comments after partner Jake manages to wrangle a weak gag out after having arrested a group of pickpockets dressed as Ninja Turtles. ‘It’s alright, innit?’ he replies, visibly pleased at his burgeoning stand up copper career.
However, nobody can seemingly explain why every single character we see apparently works exactly the same shift, and gets to leave work at the same time. We’re pretty sure that’s not how police work happens.
Elsewhere, the writing is becoming more relaxed, and while it will probably take a second season to really hit its stride, there’s good fun to be had in scenes that are clearly filler, such as Jake (Jacob Ifans) being outed to a pair of tipsy OAP holidaymakers. ‘A lot of them in Brighton,’ one little old lady wisely comments on discovering that her new favourite hunky policeman is gay. ‘Not so many in Halifax. Because of the weather.’
Meanwhile, Carl (Shaun Dooley) is cut to the chase as his secret vasectomy is discovered at the same time that his wife announces she’s pregnant. This leads to a somewhat contrived sequence when his daughter (from another marriage) is kicked out of the house. If we’re meant to read the last scene as it appears, it seems that Carl has very rarely been able to separate home life from work.
Episode 7 was the most efficient yet from Cuffs, although it is beginning to feel like the series could further follow the narratives of particular characters and sideline others.
As we indicated above, while both Ashley Walters and Jacob Ifan are personable enough, and are heading the cast (presumably Walters being a Solid reason why many are turning on in the first place), they are currently the least interesting officers on parade. It’s through no fault of the actors, it’s just that creator/writer Julie Gearey appears not to be able to find all that much for them to do. The other cast members get much fairer cop.
Aired at 8pm on Wednesday 9 December 2015 on BBC One.
> Buy Season 1 on DVD on Amazon.
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