Friday 13 July 2012

Case Sensitive: The Other Half Lives


Case Sensitive: How the Other Half Lives is a two-part series based on a book by Sophie Hannah that I haven’t read. Nor did I see the first Case Sensitive series, which hit the screens last year – somehow, I missed it completely. But I rather enjoyed the first part of this story, although I suspect the novel has many more layers of complexity.

Charlie and Simon, Hannah’s series cops, are played by Olivia Williams and Darren Boyd, who don’t correspond with my mental impression of the characters. All the same, Olivia Williams did impress me;  she is a very good actor. Boyd’s role was subordinate, and it’s too soon for me to judge his performance.

The story concerns a very attractive acquaintance of Charlie’s, played by Eva Birthistle, who leaves her husband for an enigmatic piano tuner called Aiden. He confides that he once hurt a woman, but annoyingly refuses to divulge more. Even more infuriatingly, he then complains that his lover should “trust” him, though one is tempted to respond that trust is a two-way thing.

When the woman’s husband is found murdered, Aiden is the obvious suspect, but by the end of this episode, she was in the frame. I expect more twists, and I shall certainly be tuning in to find out what happens. I’m a fan of Hannah’s work and I hope that the two programmes, taken together, do justice to a writer who combines psychological insight with a flair for plot.


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have just watched Case Sensitive 'The Other Half Lives' and it bears so little resemblance to the book I was wondering if I had in fact read it at all! It's only the names in the story I found familiar.