Perhaps it's the Glee effect, but Blackpool seems less weird now than when it was first broadcast, in 2004. At the time, many viewers balked at a crime drama in which the cast burst into hallucinatory song-and-dance numbers, Dennis Potter-style, at climactic moments. And it's hard to think of any other series that would run to an elaborate staging of the Smiths' The Boy With the Thorn in His Side, complete with a chorus line of twirling policemen, lip-synching tramps and a leering David Tennant.
The six-parter was written by Peter Bowker, with a cast led by David Morrissey, a pre-Doctor Who Tennant and Mistresses' Sarah Parish. Ostensibly a domestic whodunnit, Blackpool is really the portrait of Ripley Holden (Morrissey), a charismatic monster to rival Ashes to Ashes' Gene Hunt. This "prehistoric" Elvis-alike is an amusement-arcade boss intent on transforming the seaside town with his plan for a Vegas-style resort hotel ("It's goldrush time in Blackpool," he announces at one point, "and guess who's shitting golden nuggets?"). When a dead body turns up, Holden is soon butting heads with detective Peter Carlisle (an equally charismatic Tennant), who in turn becomes compromised when he embarks on an affair with Holden's wife, Natalie (Parish).
The real joy of Blackpool is the explosive chemistry between this trio, played out in part via karaoke renditions of pop classics such as Cupid and the Clash's Should I Stay Or Should I Go (indeed, Tennant's absence fatally hobbles 2006's disappointing one-off sequel, Viva Blackpool). But there is much else to savour, including a solid supporting cast (Corrie's Georgia Taylor as Holden's daughter Shyanne; John Thomson and Steve Pemberton as seedy associates), some whipsmart dialogue and a noirish Americana score that surely approximates the music playing inside Holden's head. In the same way, this town of strippers, stag parties and addicts is subtly glossed with an exotic sheen. Blackpool has never looked better: truly, the Vegas of the north.
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