EDGE OF DARKNESS - sat 1/11 bbc 4 - 9.15 - TV PACE NO SPOILERS

[Blondeshavemorefun]

As 80s thriller Edge of Darkness is repeated

6 episodes with 2 shown each Saturday night over 3w

Regularly cited by critics as one of the best TV dramas of all time, and a launchpad for many careers, the celebrated BBC thriller Edge of Darkness is going to be re shown on Saturday November 1st on bbc 4

I was 12 when this was first on in 1985 so obv didn’t watch it then tbh never even heard of it

An intense, brooding drama, its story of a detective's hunt for his daughter's killer escalating into a battle for the planet is more on trend than ever in our world of Extinction Rebellion and anti-government demonstrations.

And a hundred series that followed bore its thematic and stylistic DNA – everything from State of Play in 2003 to this year's The Capture.

As for Edge of Darkness's longevity – it regularly scores highly on lists of best-ever dramas – perhaps the anti-establishment dimension helps? "It’s always difficult to know quite why these things are so successful," Campbell tells RT.

"Whether the politics of the time still echo today... they probably do given the terrible things that are going on now, the amount of corruption and deceit and lies..

Edge of Darkness certainly grips from the get-go: on a stormy night, off-duty inspector Ronald Craven (Peck) collects his daughter Emma (Joanne Whalley) from a student's union meeting at teacher training college.

As they dash through the rain from their car to the house, a gunman calls out his name, Emma dashes forward and he fires both barrels into her chest. She dies in his arms.

Reeling with shock and grief, Craven nevertheless skips compassionate leave to make his own inquiries into Emma's murder.

It's a trail that leads him from memories of his stint in Northern Ireland to the shadowy corridors of government and the cramped mines of an underground reprocessing plant.

And though it's a male-heavy cast, two of its brightest lights are female. Apart from the feisty intelligence agent Clementine, or Clemmie, as played by Zoë Wanamaker, there of course is the bright-eyed, idealistic young scientist Emma Craven (Joanne Whalley), whose brutal killing so traumatises her father that she becomes a projection of his grief. Or so we first believe.

But when Whalley and Peck are both in two-shot, we realise that she is actually a ghost, counselling her floundering dad from beyond the grave. "Her influence on the show is great," as Campbell puts it.

From Wiki
Aware of the critical buzz surrounding the show, BBC1 Controller, Michael Grade, quickly announced that the series would be repeated on BBC1, stating, "I think it will reach a wider audience and it deserves it", and so Edge of Darkness was duly shown, in double episodes, over three consecutive nights between 19 December and 21 December 1985, the fastest time between original broadcast and repeat in the BBC's history.[42] These repeats were accompanied by a disclaimer that the Gaia organisation depicted in the programme was not connected with the Gaia publishing company supported by Prince Philip.[42] It was a move that paid off – Edge of Darkness doubled its audience on BBC1 to eight million viewers

My dad had bbc one on and we had visitors for Christmas who had just gone home before it started. So we watched the repeat showing I remember it so well.

Are you sure? I've never seen the film but it's supposed to be based on the original TV series, the two casts have the same character names, and it's directed by the man who directed the TV series.

These days repeats of programmes days later are commonplace but back then it didnt happen If you missed something back then and/or didnt have a video recorder it was tough shit

@CrossPurposes , you're right, im talking rubbish. I was thinking of another film/TV series confusion.

There you go

a bargain

https://amzn.eu/d/0PQ5OMG

Starts tonight 9.15

This is bringing back so many memories

I’m just starting now as was watching 9 bodies ending.

back in an hour

Very suprised he didn’t shout scream or anything like that when she was shot

I watched this late at night secretly in my room on the black and white my grandparents gave me.

Amazing series.

my first memories of some wonderful actors Joanne Whalley and Bob Peck.

My first awareness of secrets and government cover ups.

Amazing stuff.

I think I must be the only person who isn’t raving about this

watched e1

its ok but I didn’t think it was wow brilliant as so many on thread who’ve seen it all are saying

I watched it originally back in the 80s, completely different times! So watching it now....I would think the same as you...what is this?

However as a teen back in the 80s it was so chilling, creepy and addictive. Eric Clapton on the music . Bob Peck as the father . A mysterious Joanne Whalley. To our simple brains it was amazing

That must be it @Mapletreelane. 40yrs ago terrifying

now it seems very bland /boring

I won’t be watching e2 +

If you watched the retrospective that was on at nine pm last night you would have heard Ian McNeice who plays Harcourt explain that episode one is mostly about Cravens grief at losing his daughter, more plot unfolds in episode two.

I hadn't noticed this, the title rang a bell so just watched ep 1. I didn't remember it but could well have watched it.

Not really got into it yet but I'll carry on.

I always put the subtitles on in dramas - these ones confused me. A fair bit of what they were saying was missed out or changed , but meaning the same. Odd.

You are showing your age @butterpuffed 😂

I don't care !!

I have just discovered this,
cant believe it was shown 3 times in 1985 and again in 2014
only just came across it last weekend on BBC4
i am enjoying it.
Edge of Darkness – a 1985 miniseries more intriguing than the football | Television | The Guardian

also reading the guardian comments section, in 2014 the comments are FAR more pleasant than they tend to be in 2025!

I watched it in the 80s. It is EPIC. Eric Clapton soundtrack amazing too.

This is bringing back so many memories of Christmas nineteen eighty five Watching this with my late dad. He explained radiation sickness to me off the back of this when i was twelve. Missed Threads the previous year Learnt about it from this.

I think its hard to convey the impact of this series and Threads to anyone who wasn’t old enough to appreciate it at the time. I imagine my parents felt the same trying to explain the impact of the Cuban missile crisis on them. Before the wall came down and at the height of the cold war the nuclear threat was real and present in a way that it isn’t at the moment.

It was a classic series and cracking performances from the whole cast. It was haunting, especially as at the time the trains were running and we lived in Nuclear Valley.

Loved watching this again. Cracking plot and script. The soundtrack. And what a cast, faultless performances 👏

Bob Peck 🔥 So sad he died so young.

i wonder if they are reshowing it because of the planned nuclear site in wales?

DH wanted to watch this, so I sat through all of it. I would say most of it was dire, but very 1980's. There were a couple of good scenes in the last 2 episodes. I thought Joe Don Baker was great. I thought Bob Peck was really annoying. I honestly can't remember if I watched it in the 80's.