I'm just getting through Series 17 and my problems with the show are few, but strong, I think. With regards to the casting you mention:-
Jack is not a likeable character in the slightest. Whilst David Caves is no doubt a nice man, the role he's playing is not appealing whatsoever. Jack is unprofessional, he's a bully and is really off-putting to the viewer. Before, with Jack, Leo and Nikki, there may have been times when they argued, but you knew that deep down, they were close friends and they were characters we cared about. If Jack were to be fired tomorrow, I couldn't care any less about his fate.
I have no issue with Chamberlain, but do think he's being really underused, but it's apparent that he's brought in as a Leo-clone. With Leo, he was in the midst and lent gravitas to the show. With Chamberlain, it's like they don't really know what to do with him.
I actually really like Clarissa. And it's great to show that individuals with physical disabilities can still make as important a contribution as people with able-bodies.
The stories of Series 17 have been fairly effective as this show usually is, but I have to say I really take exception to the repeat storyline of an ethnic group being the bad guys, involving drugs or sex or babystealing - and how it is depicted. I think we all know the episode I'm referring to. There's entertainment and then there's stepping over the line into distasteful. Cutting open a pregnant woman and taking the baby, leading on to the horrible killing of her boyfriend. Yes, we all know there have been isolated incidents of this in real-life over the years, but come on BBC, this went too far. There's being a gritty pathology show and then there's gross-out shock tactics.
It's also far too similar to the Asian Bad-Guy episode in S15 where the Asians were hooking up and gang raping the White Girls. I'm a White person, yet I don't think it's appropriate to continuously set up the other Ethnic backgrounds within the UK as the element of what's bad about our society.
I hope Series 18 gets a serious sorting out as well, because 17 was appalling.
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lilactime2014
10 years ago
First part yes, Jack is not a sympathetic character. Second part - absolute crapola.
Look at what is happening in Rotherham right now. These gangs exist and the exist and flourish because cowardly idiots are too afraid to tackle the issue because it might appear to attack a particular minority group. So, from your angle, the only perpetrators in Silent witness must be white, Anglo Saxon, Christian, middle aged, not physically impaired - can we still have an overweight speccy four eyes Ginger? Or is that a step too far as well. It's attitudes like yours that cause this stuff to flourish because you are critically scared of causing offense. Should I be offended when the next killer or killer "is a bit like me"? (overweight speccy four eyes Ginger!)
White people do bad things, Black people do bad things, Asian people do bad things, Muslims do bad things, Christians do bad things, Jews do bad things and they are all up on screen. If you can't deal with it stop watching and go back to your Guardian newspaper for a quiet sob.
I don't apologise for coming off angry but attitudes like yours cause far more problems, by sweeping it under the giant "offensive" carpet, than it ever solves.
"'tler"
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Phantomzonevillain
10 years ago
I don't read the Guardian. I'm also trying to be sensitive to the fact, that in our country at this moment, there's an awful lot of open hostility between Ethnic groups. To have the Asian community repeatedly depicted as villains doesn't help matters. And nor am I sweeping it under the carpet. So I have nothing to apologise for either.
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cjkw67
10 years ago
I guess you dont like it when Art Imitates Reality!!
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calmeilles
10 years ago
I agree that Jack is not a sympathetic character but I actually like that. He's more attractive — and ads far more to the drama — than would be the case were he an anodyne character without flaws.
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