Monday 26 April 2010

hale and pace play dalziel and pascoe

I mean, 'played'. In 1994, ITV thought they were the perfect men for the job. Or, if not that, then at least the marketable men for the job. I learnt this in 2002, and then I forgot it, and then it was today and I had to find something in ancient email and I learnt it again.*



It was, apparently, terrible:
arguably one of the worst original dramatisations in television history. On Saturday, April 9, 1994, Yorkshire Television introduced us to the unlikely coupling of Hale and Pace as Fat Andy and Peter. Never have two people been so hopelessly miscast or has an original novel been so badly adapted. Thankfully, Gareth and Norman did the decent thing and skulked off with their acting tails between their legs, never to darken our dramatic doorsteps again.**
Did you know that Hale and Pace also did an In at the Deep End type show? I knew this too in 2002. I can't find details of this. I loved In at the Deep End.

Other main thought from September 2002, inspired by thinking about 9/11 being called 9/11 because, quite rightly, the American's get to name it: was D-Day on June the 6th because that translated cock-up-avoidingly into 6/6?


* Dalziel and Pascoe: I've never minded either the books or tellies, but I haven't really liked them either. I think it's because the stories all tend to depend on some clue that only D or P could have access to, via their family or personal lives. The point of choosing a detective protagonist is that you don't have to manufacture a personal connection between the protagonist and the crime.

I once went to Barbados to play hockey. I took The Wood Beyond with me. Because of the way the cover was printed, my mate Mike thought the title was The Wood Beyond Reginald Hill, which he thought was great, and I still do.

** I don't know where this review comes from. I quoted it in an email in 2002, and that seems like pretty good provenance.

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