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Born To Kill is a four-parter which centres on Sam (Jack Rowan), a young lad who gets a taste for being around dead people, given that mum Jenny (Romola Garai, right with Rowan) works as a nurse at the local hospital, although she’s not aware he’s collecting little trophies from those who have passed away.
It’s a slow-burner as he first witnesses a bird flying against the side of his bus shelter, severely injuring itself before befriending another lad after stopping a fight on the bus where he was the victim. This leads to a very bizarre moment from a technical point of view, such as when they’re chatting at school afterwards, and all the extraneous noises of the location suddenly die off. Of course, in a drama, those around them won’t have been talking anyway and the audio will have been added in post-production, but it’s the effect it gives which is quite chilling.
Jack Rowan is superb as Sam, bordering on evil, who finds a connection with new girl Chrissy (Lara Peake) and the billing for the programme gives the impression that her arrival is what knock him onto the wrong path, although this first episode is rather uneven and he looks to be doing quite well on his own.
I have a feeling (and hope) it’ll be more fleshed out in the subsequent episodes. It’s not Dexter, but then it wouldn’t necessarily be wise to copy another drama. However, that one threw us in at the deep end with Dexter’s doings, only later going back to tell us how he became that way, whereas this one introduces us slowly.
In addition, this drama is another presented in an odd 2.00:1 widescreen ratio, which seems to becoming the norm, following Prime Suspect 1973, Broadchurch and Guerrilla.
Born To Kill begins tonight on Channel 4 at 9pm, and then later on All4. The series is available to pre-order on DVD ahead of its release on June 12th.
Episode 1 Score: 6/10
Director: Bruce Goodison
Producer: Lucy Robinson
Creators/Writers: Kate Ashfield and Tracey Malone
Music: Samuel Sim
Cast:
Sam: Jack Rowan
Jenny: Romola Garai
John: Jacob Brown
Liam: Bilal Abd El Rahman
Oscar: Earl Cave
Bill: Daniel Mays
Chrissy: Lara Peake
Philip: Pal Aron
Mr Franklin: James Greene
Cathy: Sharon Small
Mr Williams: Karl Johnson
Mr Wilkinson: Daniel Llewellyn-Williams
Margaret: Elizabeth Counsell
Anjali: Seeta Indrani
Lisa: T’Nia Miller
Mike: Simon Bubb
Lauren: Jeany Spark
James: Harry Capehorn
Peter: Richard Coyle
Helen Deverill: Lolita Chakrabarti
Police Officer: Ethan Derrick
Rower: Colin Murtagh
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.