DCI Banks makes Flood look good! - DCI Banks (2010) Discussion

[–] 13 years ago

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The books are very detailed and have more backstory and as said elsewhere Banks family and grown up children aren't mentioned.

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[–] Prismark10 12 years ago

The tv series is never going to be detailed as the book. They are different mediums. However is this really a good adaptation is a better question.

Its that man again!!

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[–] pablo-taylor 12 years ago

And the answer to that question is a resounding NO. It's terrible drama period, before one even starts to consider whether or not it honours the source material (which it certainly doesn't).

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[–] RodFtLaud 11 years ago

I so agree with you. It's tiresome always comparing books to movies and vice versa. Adaptation is the better questions...so what do you think?

"Hot sun, cool breeze, white horse on the sea, and a big shot of vitamin B in me!"

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[–] lawson14 10 years ago

Who's Flood?

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[–] safenoe 7 years ago

I wonder if the OP had a typo in the subject, and should have referred to Frost as in Inspector Frost? Maybe. Frost and Flood sort of sound alike.

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[–] raventhom 9 years ago

I really enjoyed the tv series, but after reading a few of the novels, I came to just dislike Banks as a person. If one dislikes the main character, what's the point? He is a conceited ass, that can't see beyond his own pleasures.

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[–] Trillianne 12 years ago

I haven't read the book, so my judgement is based on the show, and I think it stinks. The actors are bad, the story telling is bad (jumping back and forth in time doesn't really work), the characters are not believable...

Actually I watched a PVR-recording, so I could fast forward through all the scenes of people, particularly Banks himself, staring into space or panting heavily, I think to convey emotion. (Hard to tell, the acting was not good)

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] Jessica_Rabbit69 12 years ago

"I think it has a chance at excellence again now that they've shown screeching, hysterical, immature, unprofessional and the otherwise waste of space Annie the door. She was off putting and annoying to the last. "

So very true. Annie could only be described as a witch (or something like it).
BUT what have they replaced her with? The icily frigid, bitchy Helen Morton. Super.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the new episode so far.

Jessica Rabbit
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way."

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] flump35 11 years ago

It's shocking isn't it. I've had some laughs watching it to be fair. The lead actor is so banal he makes Steven Seagal look like Laurence Olivier.

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[–] BigJobMan 11 years ago

Well I like it!

The verbose one.

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[–] Camargue 11 years ago

So do I!

It is lovely (and realistic) to not have a "perfect" copper.

The stories are unpredictable.

Definitely not Midsomer.

Better without Annie.

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[–] mlewis78 9 years ago

I agree! I like this show very much. It seems to have done well or it wouldn't have lasted this long. I have not seen all the series yet but I like what I have seen. I've read two of the novels.

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[–] Moscoso1967 11 years ago

"The lead actor is so banal he makes Steven Seagal look like Laurence Olivier."
LOL :D

Though I don't wanna say it's the worst detective series I've ever seen (there were some others too) but it's definitely among the worst. At least all other British crime shows I can think of right now are IMHO much better.

The only positive thing about it is that it features quite a fair amount of ethnic minorities and women, but everything else is terrible, the storytelling, the use of loud background noise/music in dramatic scenes to make them feel even "more dramatic", the fast motion scenes, the cringe-worthy Annie (both the character and the way she is played by the actress) and that wooden acting by Stephen Tomkinson (despite his ridiculously excessive facial expression). Who casted such an uncharismatic guy? And there is no chemistry between him and his sergeant(s) like there was/is between Lewis and Hathaway, Gently and Bacchus, Barnaby and Troy/Jones, DCI Hunt and DI Tyler, even Lynley and Havers.
Even if I would deliberately wanna watch a boring detective in an average crime show I would pick the new Midsomer Murders over DCI Banks!

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[–] aegoss 11 years ago

Maisie Raine, now that was a lesson in how not to make a police series. Then Blue Murder picked up the formula and made it work.
There have been others; Madson comes to mind. Though that was not Ian McShane's fault. After a long career playing 2D villains I was pleased to see him get a lead role, but what a lemon that was. He got over it, I have only now discovered he was the self-righteously evil Waleran Bigod in Pillars of the Earth.
DCI Banks, frankly, I like. How realistic I don't know and don't care, the characters are interesting, the acting involving, the plots are sufficiently complex without veering into absurdity, and the sense of place is excellent. Yes, Annie is a bit of a pain, but if you want to watch a show about perfect people there are plenty of slick procedurals to numb your neurons for you.
The post Annie series has yet to screen here in Australia, so I may yet change my overall opinion.

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[–] terrybabe 7 years ago

after a long career playing 2D villains I was pleased to see him get a lead role

What about Lovejoy, arguably his best known role? This was before Madson. Or probably was until Al Swearengen, one of the most three dimensional characters ever seen.

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[–] dermotmoconnor 8 years ago

It's fascinating to watch.

Charlie Brooker could get enough material for an entirely new series of 'A Touch of Cloth' off the back of this.

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[–] lawson14 7 years ago

I wish that they could have done a better job of depicting the town that the station is located in. IN THE BOOK, the station is located in a small village. Banks has a small second-floor office with a window that looks over a cozy village square and the conference room, decorated, with odd looking portraits, is used for the situation room.

However ON THE TV SHOW, Banks has a large non-descript office at one end of a large, dimly lit, workstation-filled room with a glass situation board. The building is a large non-descript building in a generic suburban area. All very generic.

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