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Deep Water begins with a family of two adults and four children (led by Rosalind Eleazar – National Treasure, out on a boat whilst on Lake Windermere, when one of the kids falls out and into… yes, deep water. Dad rushes in to save the day, and all is fine, but then this isn’t a murder mystery.
Since I don’t read books, I’d never heard of Paula Daly‘s Windermere novels, on which this new six-part drama is based, but then even if I did read them, I’d be unlikely to follow the lives of three women and everything they get up to in their family lives, but it’s easier to see them displayed onscreen in weekly, bitesize chunks.
While we await the third series of Marcella, Lisa (Anna Friel, above-left with Eleazar) hasn’t yet realised that in life, too many people put on a front as if they’re having the perfect life when, in reality, everyone has a lot of the same struggles, and you shouldn’t really compare yourself to others, but she can’t help this when in the presence of her friends.
Roz (Sinead Keenan – Care) and her family have big money worries, with the baliffs knocking on the door, but there’s no surprises in the offer she’s made to get some cash, since it’s signposted a mile off.
There’s a rather ironic scene at a dinner party when one of the guests is a plastic surgeon, and Lisa turns down the suggestion of having work done on her face when it’s quite clear that Ms Friel has had work done.
Also, there’s some soap opera-style “What the butler saw” nonsense, and if you left tou underwear behind in a particular location, you wouldn’t rush back the next day to retrieve it… it’s not as if whoever finds it will be running DNA tests(!)
So, there’s just too many coincidences. As one character says, Windermere is “the world’s smallest town”. Seems to happen to all the towns beginning with W – Windermere, Weatherfield, Walford…
Overall, this passed an hour without too much complaint, but I won’t be passing any more hours with it as I just didn’t care about any of the characters and there’s nothing we haven’t seen before. Maybe if you’re a die-hard soaps fan, this will work for you.
Deep Water begins tomorrow night on ITV at 9pm, and is available to pre-order on Blu-ray and DVD, ahead of its release, but the date is not yet confirmed. A safe bet would be the Monday following this series’ conclusion, which would make it September 23rd, but as I type, Amazon just have a placeholder of December 31st. After the first episode is broadcast, the entire series will be on the ITV Hub.
Episode 1 Score: 2/10
Directors: Jim Loach, Harry Wootliff
Screenplay: Anna Symon
Novel: Paula Daly
Music: Toydrum
Cast:
Lisa Kallisto: Anna Friel
Roz Toovey: Sinead Keenan
Kate Riverty: Rosalind Eleazar
Sam Kallisto: Leo Ashton
Sally Kallisto: Nell Williams
James Kallisto: Jake Hayes
Joe Kallisto: Steven Cree
Guy Riverty: Alastair Mackenzie
Fergus Riverty: Rico Canadinhas
Pete Toovey: Carl Rice
Abby Hill: Macy Shackleton
Winston Hill: Charlie Carrick
Alexa: Camilla Beeput
Adam: Steve Toussaint
Scott Elias: Gerald Kyd
Louise Elias: Audrie Woodhouse
Miss King: Naomi Yang
Client Sue: Heather Phoenix
Taxi driver: James Puddephatt
Wayne: Matthew Aubrey
Joanne Aspinall: Faye Marsay
Joe: Steven Cree
Lucinda Riverty: Indeyarna Donaldson-Holness
DI Mark Repton: Dana Haqjoo
Jason Marshall: Alexi Stylianou
Mike: Stephen Whitfield
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.