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So, thanks to the dread meme of impossible decisions, I dug out Paradox for a rewatch. At least I think that was the reason. Something made me decide that it was time to watch it again, anyway. Nearly four years on, it's every bit as good as the first time. In fact, annoyingly, I enjoyed it even more this time than I did when it aired. Even more annoyingly, it turns out that there are still only five episodes. And there's me wearing my "Proud Of The BBC" T-shirt today as well...
For those who don't know, which I suspect would be pretty much everybody, Paradox is a sci-fi drama that aired on the BBC in late 2009. An astrophysicist receives a peculiar transmission from his satellite, which appears to consist of photographs of an event that hasn't happened yet. Since it looks like an explosion of some kind, he calls in the police to investigate, and see if they can use the clues in the photographs to prevent the explosion from happening. The pictures don't stop coming though, and consequently, every Tuesday evening after the news, the team find themselves with another set of impossible photographs, and a mystery to unravel. And it was axed, and it's really frustrating.
It's not a perfect show (with very few exceptions, what is?), and I can see a few things that perhaps should have been done differently. For the most part, though, it really is annoyingly good. It didn't exactly hit the ground running, granted, but by episode three it's in fine form, and the final episode is damn near perfect. Sadly, most critics seemed to have made their minds up by the end of episode two, and by the looks of things so had the BBC. Finding your audience and having time to grow are not allowed in the modern world. This is frustrating enough when it's an American TV show, cancelled after twenty-two episodes; but when it's British, and cancelled after just five hours, it takes irritation to a whole new level. It's such a good idea for a show, and the characters themselves are good too. The police team have a few clichés amongst them, but the storyline around young DC Callum Gada is compelling, and the almost indecent excitement that the case arouses in DI Rebecca Flint has the promise of good things ahead. Creepy Ministry of Defence shadow Amelia James is a strong presence in the background, and the necessary conflict comes from cranky DS Ben Holt, who's less interesting than the other characters, admittedly, although it's probably good that there's somebody approximately normal and grounded in the cast. For me though, the stand out is Christian King, the scientist at the heart of it all. On the surface he's the standard, socially incompetent geek, but it goes much deeper than that. He's spectacularly aloof, to the extent that every twitch, every flicker of the eyes, maximises his distance from the human race. He can't keep people far enough away. It's a heck of a performance. I can't remember the last time I warmed to a character as quickly as I did to Christian. There's so much going on beneath the surface that you'd need another twenty episodes just to figure him out, let alone the mystery that's thrown itself at him (from outer space, just to add to the fun).
But there aren't another twenty episodes. There's just five, and there's remaining just five no matter how much I wish for more. The writer had planned a three series story arc, so presumably had intended for at least fifteen episodes in total. I'd love to have seen where he was going with the show, and where the story was taking the characters, particularly Christian and Callum. But it wasn't to be. Sometimes television is the most irritating thing in the world. I mean really, five episodes?! That's barely even chapter one.
For those who don't know, which I suspect would be pretty much everybody, Paradox is a sci-fi drama that aired on the BBC in late 2009. An astrophysicist receives a peculiar transmission from his satellite, which appears to consist of photographs of an event that hasn't happened yet. Since it looks like an explosion of some kind, he calls in the police to investigate, and see if they can use the clues in the photographs to prevent the explosion from happening. The pictures don't stop coming though, and consequently, every Tuesday evening after the news, the team find themselves with another set of impossible photographs, and a mystery to unravel. And it was axed, and it's really frustrating.
It's not a perfect show (with very few exceptions, what is?), and I can see a few things that perhaps should have been done differently. For the most part, though, it really is annoyingly good. It didn't exactly hit the ground running, granted, but by episode three it's in fine form, and the final episode is damn near perfect. Sadly, most critics seemed to have made their minds up by the end of episode two, and by the looks of things so had the BBC. Finding your audience and having time to grow are not allowed in the modern world. This is frustrating enough when it's an American TV show, cancelled after twenty-two episodes; but when it's British, and cancelled after just five hours, it takes irritation to a whole new level. It's such a good idea for a show, and the characters themselves are good too. The police team have a few clichés amongst them, but the storyline around young DC Callum Gada is compelling, and the almost indecent excitement that the case arouses in DI Rebecca Flint has the promise of good things ahead. Creepy Ministry of Defence shadow Amelia James is a strong presence in the background, and the necessary conflict comes from cranky DS Ben Holt, who's less interesting than the other characters, admittedly, although it's probably good that there's somebody approximately normal and grounded in the cast. For me though, the stand out is Christian King, the scientist at the heart of it all. On the surface he's the standard, socially incompetent geek, but it goes much deeper than that. He's spectacularly aloof, to the extent that every twitch, every flicker of the eyes, maximises his distance from the human race. He can't keep people far enough away. It's a heck of a performance. I can't remember the last time I warmed to a character as quickly as I did to Christian. There's so much going on beneath the surface that you'd need another twenty episodes just to figure him out, let alone the mystery that's thrown itself at him (from outer space, just to add to the fun).
But there aren't another twenty episodes. There's just five, and there's remaining just five no matter how much I wish for more. The writer had planned a three series story arc, so presumably had intended for at least fifteen episodes in total. I'd love to have seen where he was going with the show, and where the story was taking the characters, particularly Christian and Callum. But it wasn't to be. Sometimes television is the most irritating thing in the world. I mean really, five episodes?! That's barely even chapter one.
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