Walter

Just a brief word about a brief one-off police drama that left an unusual lasting impression on me last night. Prime time slot for BBC One last night gave us a new pilot - Walter; the story of a self styled "Yoda" of a modern police force whose home life and work life kick into overdrive, due to mounting domestic debts on the one hand, and the sudden death of a fellow police officer on the other. 

What first struck me as a bit odd about this is that it was a pilot, which BBC One do not often plump for, and not least on prime time Friday night telly (mind you, things like Mrs Brown's Boys were pilots once). What also struck me as odd, yet broadly speaking happily so, was that this was clearly a police drama with a difference. 

Some differences you hoped for and expected, like just how good Adrian Dunbar as DI Walter Gambon actually is. The twinkle-eyed dandy Irish actor constantly draws your attention with massive amounts of gravity and magnetism in every shot he is in. A lot of his lines, delivered by a lesser talent, would have rapidly sounded clichéd and woeful, but he pulled them off with fluid ease. Whilst Dunbar was very good, his young Welsh assisting DC Alexandra Roach did her share of scene-stealing too. Whirlwind, earnest, sexy, vulnerable and hilarious; she too fit into the genre, plot and her own character with minimal effort.

Roach's character was not the only element of Walter that was laugh-out-loud funny; far from it. That's the other main thing that struck me about this pilot - the unusual yet stupendous blend of suspenseful police drama with ludicrous and hilarious elements. Roach's nymphomaniac DC, an uptight yet secretly indulgent homosexual superior officer, and a main lead who rolls off quips left right and centre. The result is rather difficult to explain but at no point did it feel forced or haphazard just for the sake of it, and still worth a definite watch as it was thoroughly enjoyable.

So will Walter be picked up for a series? I am uncertain. Should it? Definitely I feel. Yes there were times when the plot got a bit lost in it all, and whilst they have achieved this wonderful balance of comedy and drama, I do feel the overall tone needs to be sharpened. There is still a bit of ground to cover, but for me Walter has definite potential.