HE KILLS COPPERS is the gritty spin off from THE LONG FIRM something that I considered to be one of the great BBC dramas . Even though this follow up is produced for Sunday night ITV it was produced by an independent company which means we're allowed to watch violence and bad language so you won't be confusing it with a family type show that we usually see in this time slot
Unfortunately there's little connection with THE LONG FIRM . Throughout the story there's only one fleeting reference to Harry Starks . You could argue that the problem with Starks is that he's based too closely to Ronnie Kray to be a character in his own right . There is no argument here - villain Billy Porter is notorious cop killer Harry Roberts . Both served in Malaya and after murdering three policeman who caught him and his accomplices planning a robbery Porter/Roberts spent several months hiding in a desolate woodland . The drama even uses real life footage from the Roberts manhunt and it's something of a shock when Porter is caught in the woods he overpowers a policeman and escapes unlike Harry Roberts
This plot twist sets up the final episode which possibly would have been compelling if it wasn't so stupid and contrived . Weirdo journalist Tony Meehan accidentally kills Porter's mother who is then killed by Porter after tracking him down to a peace camp . Porter manages to bury him in an unmarked grave and you'll be puzzled to know how and why and things come to a head in a lefty peacenik squat that sees Porter getting shot dead by an armed police response unit
This is a fairly watchable drama but only in parts . By the end of the final episode you'll be wondering why there's so many subplots and lose ends included . Was it really necessary to have the lead detective's marital and family life included ? Did we need to see much of Porter's mother ? which seemed to be included just to cast Maureen Lipman thereby fooling the audience into thinking we'd be seeing a jokey comedy drama . Talking of comedy one of the main reason's I found THE LONG FIRM so great was the wonderful use of black comedy mixed in with the violence . In comparison HE KILLS COPPERS is grim and not nearly as memorable or enjoyable as its predecessor
Unfortunately there's little connection with THE LONG FIRM . Throughout the story there's only one fleeting reference to Harry Starks . You could argue that the problem with Starks is that he's based too closely to Ronnie Kray to be a character in his own right . There is no argument here - villain Billy Porter is notorious cop killer Harry Roberts . Both served in Malaya and after murdering three policeman who caught him and his accomplices planning a robbery Porter/Roberts spent several months hiding in a desolate woodland . The drama even uses real life footage from the Roberts manhunt and it's something of a shock when Porter is caught in the woods he overpowers a policeman and escapes unlike Harry Roberts
This plot twist sets up the final episode which possibly would have been compelling if it wasn't so stupid and contrived . Weirdo journalist Tony Meehan accidentally kills Porter's mother who is then killed by Porter after tracking him down to a peace camp . Porter manages to bury him in an unmarked grave and you'll be puzzled to know how and why and things come to a head in a lefty peacenik squat that sees Porter getting shot dead by an armed police response unit
This is a fairly watchable drama but only in parts . By the end of the final episode you'll be wondering why there's so many subplots and lose ends included . Was it really necessary to have the lead detective's marital and family life included ? Did we need to see much of Porter's mother ? which seemed to be included just to cast Maureen Lipman thereby fooling the audience into thinking we'd be seeing a jokey comedy drama . Talking of comedy one of the main reason's I found THE LONG FIRM so great was the wonderful use of black comedy mixed in with the violence . In comparison HE KILLS COPPERS is grim and not nearly as memorable or enjoyable as its predecessor