BBC | 1985 | 314 mins. | Not Rated
As the Mel Gibson film Edge of Darkness hits the big screen, it seems like an appropriate time to take a look at the BBC mini-series that inspired it. It was the mid-eighties—Edge of Darkness aired on the BBC as a six episode series in 1985—writer Troy Kennedy Martin was greatly influenced by the political climate of the time. Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minister of Great Britain was widely perceived by those on the left as a reactionary, U.S. President Ronald Reagan remained committed to beefing up the defense systems, the Cold War was ongoing and Col. Muammar Qaddafi was being accused of state-sponsored acts of international terrorism. Public concerns over nuclear war were higher than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, and films like The Day After, seemed more realistic than ever before.
While escorting his daughter home from college, Detective Inspector Ronald Craven (Bob Peck) watches helplessly as his only daughter (Joanne Whalley) is gunned down before his eyes. Craven is utterly devastated, convinced his daughter took a bullet meant for him. Things take an unexpected turn when he finds a loaded gun amongst her possessions. Suddenly, what started out as a father’s quest to solve a child’s murder, turns into a complex web of politics, deception, nuclear proliferation, and covert agents. Suddenly, the stakes are higher than we could have ever imagined. There is madness to it all, but Craven’s agonizing, longing for his daughter ends up being the sanest voice in a world lost to capitalism and Cold War paranoia.
The series is greatly aided by Bob Peck’s incredible performance (for which he won a BAFTA), understated and nuanced; he effectively communicates a certain level of grief induced madness that begins to overtake him. Often stone-faced, but hardly emotionless, the actor expresses a rollercoaster of emotions throughout. Accompanying the series is a wonderful guitar based score by Eric Clapton and Michael Kamen that can be accessed as an isolated track on all episodes.
Troy Kennedy Martin has said he wrote Edge of Darkness for the BBC, “Not really believing it would ever get made.” Of course, it did, and continues to have an impact twenty-five years after it first aired. Edge of Darkness was placed fifteenth (fourth position out of the dramas featured on the list) on the British Film Institute’s list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes in 2000, the BFI describing it as “a gripping, innovative six-part drama which fully deserves its cult status and many awards.” After watching the series myself, I couldn’t agree more. So while I’m sure many will go out to the theater to see the Mel Gibson remake, take the time to see the original mini-series. You won’t regret it.
Long unavailable on DVD in the United States, Edge of Darkness has finally made its debut as a bit of cross-promotion for the new film. Edge of Darkness is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame. The visual transfer is rather ordinary, the level of detail is not all that great and shadow detail is adequate. The transfer is awash with background noise and quite a bit of film grain is evident in many scenes. The colors in this series are rather muted, although flesh tones look pretty good.
This DVD comes with two mono soundtracks, one featuring production audio, the other featuring an isolated musical score (see below for more details). The default soundtrack is satisfactory. Dialogue is clearly audible throughout all six episodes and additional narrative by Bob Peck is also clear and highly intelligible. There didn’t appear to be any audio synch problems either. Eric Clapton and Michael Kamen’s musical score is quite good and this DVD also features English subtitles.
There is a nice package of special features:
• Did You See…? (8 mins.) This is an excerpt from the BBC arts program Did You See? which has a review of the series. A panel of film critics discusses the program in depth.
• Breakfast Time (7 Mins.) Actor Bob Peck is interviewed on the BBC Breakfast Time program by two different hosts.
• BAFTA Awards and Broadcasting Press Guild Awards (13 Mins.) Here you will find actual vision from the BAFTAs in 1986 as well as excerpts from the film and interviews with actors Bob Peck and Joe Don Baker. Edge of Darkness won the BAFTA for best drama series and Bob Peck won the BAFTA for best actor.
• Alternate Ending to Final Episode (2:24) The difference is slight, see if you can spot it.
• Photo Gallery: A collection of photo stills.
• Isolated Musical Score Selecting this option plays the drama series with an isolated musical score.
• Magnox – Secrets of the Edge of Darkness (35 mins.) Featurette that includes newer nterviews with series writer Troy Kennedy-Martin, producer Michael Wearing, composer Michael Kaman, series technical adviser Walt Patterson and visual effects designer Mat Irvine as well as actors Charles Kay, John Woodvine and Ian McNeice. The featurette is intercut with numerous excerpts from the series and some behind the scenes photos.
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