I decided to begin writing last night about Waking the dead but such is my state this morning that I am finding it difficult to concentrate, in part because there is so much I need to do but mainly because of anxiety and uncertainty about aspects of my immediate condition. I therefore will drag myself upstairs to wash and shave and do my hair and then decide whether to immediate tackle the issue that has arisen or get down to some writing before attending to the problem and other things. I like to be in control of my life as most people do and have accepted most of the limitations caused by age, my financial circumstances and living on my own and for most of the time I feel gratitude that my position is better than most. However when I feel my present situation threatened or have little or no control over removing or avoiding a problem I become frustrated, anxious, and indecisive, occasionally overwhelmed.
Returning to Waking the Dead, this was a double episode about the ultimate control freak, a female sadistic killer with exceptional cleverness. We had met her before in a previous programme sometime ago as a senior Prison Officer, how senior I cannot remember, where it emerged she had been killing female prisoners upon their discharge and who had engaged in an intellectual battle of with the character played by Trevor Eve. The character is also clever and with the capacity to think and act outside box but he in contrast to the murderess lacks her ruthlessness and cunning. She enjoys tormenting her victims and she has become expert in getting other people to either help in her elaborately contrived activities or she manipulates them into performing evils acts on others for her gratification.
The new double programme was elaborately constructed but is difficult to fully appreciate without having viewed the previous programme and the impact on Trevor of finding the multiple graves of her victims in a field.
I have also previously referred that Trevor’s fictional character is prone to take the law into his own hands and commits crimes to bring the guilty to justice. In a previous series the relationship with his estranged son is explored, a young man who has become an addict and a petty criminal. Trevor nearly kills the young man with whom the son was having a relationship and who Trevor blames for the condition in which he finds his son. Again it is difficult to fully appreciate the present double episode without remembering or having seen the episode in which he rages about himself, and what happens to his son especially when he learns of the death from a fatal injection.
Out of the blue Trevor is sent the decayed finger of a former female prisoner upon which there is an engagement ring and his first reaction is to send it on to CID and in particular to the former member of the team who found Trevor’s ways too unconventional to cope with. Trevor does this because the finger has been sent by the murderess former prison officer who is incarcerated in a high security psychiatric prison. How did she manage to send the package to him? For once he wants someone else to investigate but the matter is thrown back at him. It is at this point that a chasm of credibility opens because by coincidence at that every moment Sue Johnston who plays the psychologist profiler, who understands Trevor and works to help him survive without becoming the individual he fights against has to go into hospital because of cancer, pretending to Trevor she is attending a conference outside the UK. Moreover the person she arranges to cover for her while she is away, played by our Friends in the North, Gina McKee, has been in contact with the murderess by phone with a view to writing a book about her. Without accepting that such an unbelieving combination of events occurs the plot falls flat irrespective of its cleverness and the strength of the acting.
My own experience of prison, lectures by a forensic criminologist and by others while training, and discussions with psychiatrists while working, confirm the resourcefulness of some criminals when in prison, and of “mental” patients in institutions and I suppose the best cinematic portrayal of such and individual is that of Sir Anthony Hopkins in the Silence of Lambs. In this episode it is the ability to influence and effectively control other prisoners by physical and mental forces and to be able to do likewise with the staff which is to the fore. The popular belief is that former police and prison staff have an exceptionally hard time if they are imprisoned and this may be the position, however there is an aura given to those who the commit worst crimes regardless of who they were and this can lead to respect as well as fear on the part of both staff and other prisoners, and for some there is the urge to get to know them and to try and change them, because of their own fears about themselves. perhaps because of their strong beliefs and convictions about good and evil about human beings and about the nature of their deity.
In this instance the former senior prison officer had formed a relationship with a staff member at a secure psychiatric prison who is devout Christian who works in her spare time with drug addicts and rent “boys.” In facts she kills them to put them out of their misery and it is left open if this was something she was already doing before she worked nine years before with the serial killer or something which developed after they established a relationship and possible as a consequence of the powerful influence of the murderess over her. The latter is more likely because the force of one and the weakness portrayed of the other. It is the latter who has been persuaded to dig up and rebury the body of the prisoner, break off the finger with the engagement ring and send it to Trevor at the Waking the Dead unit.
Why has she done this. We know that there is more to the situation than first appears. It is unlikely that that this is not just a gift to Trevor to prove that the murderess is as clever as he is.
Trevor eventually works out how the missing prisoner came to be killed and buried in the grounds when she is supposed to have been discharged from the prison having recovered from her illness and behaviour to meet necessary conditions and requirements.
The current psychiatrist in charge together with the “do gooding” prison worker had encouraged the relationship between the dead girl and a damaged and disturbed male patient who we learn kills the girl when he believes that she is his mother. The Psychiatrist with the help of the gardener then buries the girl in the grounds and her departure from the prison is faked, The killer of the girl then kills either the Governor or former Psychiatrist and his death is presented as suicide and in turn the killer is provoked into killing the psychiatrist who created the situation in which the first death occurred. Behind all this is of course the former prison officer who has learnt of the original killings from another prisoner with whom she has been allowed to have a sexual relationship and where the prisoner was used to help fake the departure of the dead girl and then witnesses the burial of her body.
If this was not enough stretches of credulity and plot manipulation to grasp towards bedtime it is all part of the overriding master plan in which the former prison officer persuades Trevor to first get her back into her room and association with other prisoners from an isolation cell from which is able to enter the communications and control centre, creating the diversion in which the psychiatrist is killed and then makes her escape, kidnaps both Sue Johnston from her hospital bed and her do gooding accomplice from the prison and takes them to the warehouse used by drug addicts, and in particular where Trevor nearly killed the friend of his son and where his son died. Trevor is then persuaded to go to the location where he is given the choice of administering a lethal injection to put the do gooder out of her misery or letting Sue Johnston be killed. He refuses to do her bidding and with the help of his unit the death of Sue is prevented. Trevor is then unable to prevent the former prison officer from killing herself, something which is at odds which the personality that has been developed over the previous four hours of programme in which she featured. With the absence of the death penalty, further imprisonment would prove no problem for the creature who would quickly regain her authority and power within whatever establishment she was placed and continue to cause havoc, mayhem and death if given the opportunity.
The way I have written this and construct most writing is to be as factually accurate as memory permits and to present the “evidence” before making judgements and reaching conclusions. This contrasts with those who have a view, or belief and then find the argument, the evidence to support their position. I often do not have a position or viewpoint until I have explored the information available.
Yesterday I went to Newcastle having discovered that the Tyneside Film Theatre had decided to show the New York Metropolitan Opera Relay in the classic stalls as well as classic cinema circle and booked for the performance of Aida. I continued to read Summers with Durham by Tom Wellock on the journey. Durham has sent out the information on membership for the 1010 season. There is no change for ongoing over 60’s in the exceptionally modest membership fee of £90 although this will cover two fewer one day games next season. This is because the 50 over Friends Provident Trophy has been abolished and replaced by an extended 40 over contest which will be played on Sundays. There will be two leagues in which 12 matches, 6 home and six away will be played followed by a final at the end. The reason for the reduction of four games a season is the decision to expand the 20 20 format with 8 games played home and away during June July and August followed by the best four in each division playing in knockout round, presumably the top two having home draws and then the remaining four teams participating in the finals days of three games The financial significance of the change is that he clubs are able to charge for the additional 20 20 games whereas the these were previously included in the Membership. Durham as with other clubs have introduced the season ticket for the 20 29 with a substantial discount for from £120 for the eight games to £70 and there is also a discount for those wanting to add on the 6 40 over home games thus a clear division between the Championship pricing and one day and with games played during weekends, early evenings or under floodlights thus maximising the number of games where families and younger people can participate. It is time to turn my attention to other things.
Returning to Waking the Dead, this was a double episode about the ultimate control freak, a female sadistic killer with exceptional cleverness. We had met her before in a previous programme sometime ago as a senior Prison Officer, how senior I cannot remember, where it emerged she had been killing female prisoners upon their discharge and who had engaged in an intellectual battle of with the character played by Trevor Eve. The character is also clever and with the capacity to think and act outside box but he in contrast to the murderess lacks her ruthlessness and cunning. She enjoys tormenting her victims and she has become expert in getting other people to either help in her elaborately contrived activities or she manipulates them into performing evils acts on others for her gratification.
The new double programme was elaborately constructed but is difficult to fully appreciate without having viewed the previous programme and the impact on Trevor of finding the multiple graves of her victims in a field.
I have also previously referred that Trevor’s fictional character is prone to take the law into his own hands and commits crimes to bring the guilty to justice. In a previous series the relationship with his estranged son is explored, a young man who has become an addict and a petty criminal. Trevor nearly kills the young man with whom the son was having a relationship and who Trevor blames for the condition in which he finds his son. Again it is difficult to fully appreciate the present double episode without remembering or having seen the episode in which he rages about himself, and what happens to his son especially when he learns of the death from a fatal injection.
Out of the blue Trevor is sent the decayed finger of a former female prisoner upon which there is an engagement ring and his first reaction is to send it on to CID and in particular to the former member of the team who found Trevor’s ways too unconventional to cope with. Trevor does this because the finger has been sent by the murderess former prison officer who is incarcerated in a high security psychiatric prison. How did she manage to send the package to him? For once he wants someone else to investigate but the matter is thrown back at him. It is at this point that a chasm of credibility opens because by coincidence at that every moment Sue Johnston who plays the psychologist profiler, who understands Trevor and works to help him survive without becoming the individual he fights against has to go into hospital because of cancer, pretending to Trevor she is attending a conference outside the UK. Moreover the person she arranges to cover for her while she is away, played by our Friends in the North, Gina McKee, has been in contact with the murderess by phone with a view to writing a book about her. Without accepting that such an unbelieving combination of events occurs the plot falls flat irrespective of its cleverness and the strength of the acting.
My own experience of prison, lectures by a forensic criminologist and by others while training, and discussions with psychiatrists while working, confirm the resourcefulness of some criminals when in prison, and of “mental” patients in institutions and I suppose the best cinematic portrayal of such and individual is that of Sir Anthony Hopkins in the Silence of Lambs. In this episode it is the ability to influence and effectively control other prisoners by physical and mental forces and to be able to do likewise with the staff which is to the fore. The popular belief is that former police and prison staff have an exceptionally hard time if they are imprisoned and this may be the position, however there is an aura given to those who the commit worst crimes regardless of who they were and this can lead to respect as well as fear on the part of both staff and other prisoners, and for some there is the urge to get to know them and to try and change them, because of their own fears about themselves. perhaps because of their strong beliefs and convictions about good and evil about human beings and about the nature of their deity.
In this instance the former senior prison officer had formed a relationship with a staff member at a secure psychiatric prison who is devout Christian who works in her spare time with drug addicts and rent “boys.” In facts she kills them to put them out of their misery and it is left open if this was something she was already doing before she worked nine years before with the serial killer or something which developed after they established a relationship and possible as a consequence of the powerful influence of the murderess over her. The latter is more likely because the force of one and the weakness portrayed of the other. It is the latter who has been persuaded to dig up and rebury the body of the prisoner, break off the finger with the engagement ring and send it to Trevor at the Waking the Dead unit.
Why has she done this. We know that there is more to the situation than first appears. It is unlikely that that this is not just a gift to Trevor to prove that the murderess is as clever as he is.
Trevor eventually works out how the missing prisoner came to be killed and buried in the grounds when she is supposed to have been discharged from the prison having recovered from her illness and behaviour to meet necessary conditions and requirements.
The current psychiatrist in charge together with the “do gooding” prison worker had encouraged the relationship between the dead girl and a damaged and disturbed male patient who we learn kills the girl when he believes that she is his mother. The Psychiatrist with the help of the gardener then buries the girl in the grounds and her departure from the prison is faked, The killer of the girl then kills either the Governor or former Psychiatrist and his death is presented as suicide and in turn the killer is provoked into killing the psychiatrist who created the situation in which the first death occurred. Behind all this is of course the former prison officer who has learnt of the original killings from another prisoner with whom she has been allowed to have a sexual relationship and where the prisoner was used to help fake the departure of the dead girl and then witnesses the burial of her body.
If this was not enough stretches of credulity and plot manipulation to grasp towards bedtime it is all part of the overriding master plan in which the former prison officer persuades Trevor to first get her back into her room and association with other prisoners from an isolation cell from which is able to enter the communications and control centre, creating the diversion in which the psychiatrist is killed and then makes her escape, kidnaps both Sue Johnston from her hospital bed and her do gooding accomplice from the prison and takes them to the warehouse used by drug addicts, and in particular where Trevor nearly killed the friend of his son and where his son died. Trevor is then persuaded to go to the location where he is given the choice of administering a lethal injection to put the do gooder out of her misery or letting Sue Johnston be killed. He refuses to do her bidding and with the help of his unit the death of Sue is prevented. Trevor is then unable to prevent the former prison officer from killing herself, something which is at odds which the personality that has been developed over the previous four hours of programme in which she featured. With the absence of the death penalty, further imprisonment would prove no problem for the creature who would quickly regain her authority and power within whatever establishment she was placed and continue to cause havoc, mayhem and death if given the opportunity.
The way I have written this and construct most writing is to be as factually accurate as memory permits and to present the “evidence” before making judgements and reaching conclusions. This contrasts with those who have a view, or belief and then find the argument, the evidence to support their position. I often do not have a position or viewpoint until I have explored the information available.
Yesterday I went to Newcastle having discovered that the Tyneside Film Theatre had decided to show the New York Metropolitan Opera Relay in the classic stalls as well as classic cinema circle and booked for the performance of Aida. I continued to read Summers with Durham by Tom Wellock on the journey. Durham has sent out the information on membership for the 1010 season. There is no change for ongoing over 60’s in the exceptionally modest membership fee of £90 although this will cover two fewer one day games next season. This is because the 50 over Friends Provident Trophy has been abolished and replaced by an extended 40 over contest which will be played on Sundays. There will be two leagues in which 12 matches, 6 home and six away will be played followed by a final at the end. The reason for the reduction of four games a season is the decision to expand the 20 20 format with 8 games played home and away during June July and August followed by the best four in each division playing in knockout round, presumably the top two having home draws and then the remaining four teams participating in the finals days of three games The financial significance of the change is that he clubs are able to charge for the additional 20 20 games whereas the these were previously included in the Membership. Durham as with other clubs have introduced the season ticket for the 20 29 with a substantial discount for from £120 for the eight games to £70 and there is also a discount for those wanting to add on the 6 40 over home games thus a clear division between the Championship pricing and one day and with games played during weekends, early evenings or under floodlights thus maximising the number of games where families and younger people can participate. It is time to turn my attention to other things.
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