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The Catch begins with Ed (Jason Watkins – The Man Who Killed Don Quixote) steering his fishing boat on the ocean wave, looking anxious, making his way to a dinghy which is overturned. But where has its occupant gone?
However, he also has fiduciary issues, since business is tight, and very few people want the fish which he and his friend are catching.
Before you can say ‘Fishermans Friends‘, he’s introduced to his daughter’s new beau, Ryan (Aneurin Barnard), which would eventually make him the son in law, but Jason doesn’t take to him and thinks there’s something rotten in the state of Cornwall.
I would, too, since Ryan’s apparently done two tours of Afghanistan, even though the actor doesn’t look at all war-torn. Methinks he’s been in other productions, such as 1899 and SS-GB!
I’m posting this after the first episode has aired, so it’s safe to discuss the episode, but Ed reckons Ryan changed his name some years ago. Plus, he follows the lad down the docks, apparently looking for a bit of ‘hows your father’ with another woman. I presumed our lead was jumping to conclusions.
Was I right? Is Ryan a wrong ‘un? Or is Ed just very mistrusting? Either way, this feels like a script we’ve been down many times before. In fact, I’m really not drawn into watching any more of this. At least the location filming is nice…
What was of more concern, is that I couldn’t help but think that in the house with the spiral staircase, the walls REALLY needed repainting before filming!
When it came to further episodes, I tried getting into the second one when broadcast, but I bailed at the first ad break. Since this is a four-parter, I got the feeling it should’ve been shown over four consecutive nights like most of these dramas, but it was shown weekly instead, and with nothing available in advance online, except for the finale by a few days, for some reason – after all, if you’ve made people wait a whole week, why not do the same for the last episode?
I know when the series started, Silent Witness was still airing every Monday and Tuesday, so the drama audience’s attention would be diverted over to that, and it would knacker the potential ratings for The Catch. If Channel 5 had waited a couple of weeks, they could’ve then shown it across one week.
Thanks to our friends at Channel 5 for the screener for episode 1 prior to broadcast.
The Catch continues next Wednesday on Channel 5. It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
If you miss it, you can watch the each episode on My5 after transmission.
Director: Robert Quinn
Producer: Jyoti Fernandes
Writer: Michael Crompton
Novel: TM Logan
Cast:
Ryan: Aneurin Barnard
Claire: Cathy Belton
Ed: Jason Watkins
Phyllis: Brenda Fricker
Abbie: Poppy Gilbert
Bob: Ian Pirie
Katz: Jade Jordan
George: Morgan Palmeria
D.I Jennie Nott: Tracy Wiles
Pendrick: Paul Sparkes
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.