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Two angels fall from the sky to earth, where they have come to protect the people of a very familiar-looking historic city. By becoming lawyers.
Since it’s not the set-up for one of my incredibly hilarious jokes, there’s only one thing it could be: the premise of the latest Matthew Graham/Ashley Pharaoh drama. Yes, the men behind classic time-travelling cop drama Life on Mars, and the not-so-classic archaeology conspiracy thriller Bonekickers are back, bringing the madness to the small screen once more.
With the establishment of the premise and the sheer nuttiness of it all, the case of the week rather got a bit lost. The players in the shooting drama just weren’t given enough time or depth to make them interesting, so the scenes involving them just ended up dragging. In the end, it sort of had to be the daughter, because there wasn’t really anyone else it could have been.
Thankfully, there was more than enough madness to take us through the lulls of the crime case. We got wings bursting out from the angels’ backs from time to time and a sniper firing shots at people in the middle of the crime capital that is York and a fallen angel drinking fancy wine in a pub and, my personal favourite, the lawyer for the defence making chicken noises at the lawyer for the prosecution in court. There were some cringe-worthy moments (“I’m no angel” being one) but really, I found it rather charming and entertaining. On the whole, the actual writing is sharp enough to save the strangeness from becoming too overwhelming. There are some lovely little moments, like Zak’s “chicken or fish?” reaction to hearing the induction speech, or the two angels stopping to look at a depiction of their angelic friend in a stained-glass window in the Minster.
Anyone familiar with York will enjoy spotting all its landmarks, and it undoubtedly makes for a beautiful and appropriate setting. What really carried the first episode of Eternal Law through the sticky moments were the performances. Of the supporting characters, Hattie Morahan makes the most of her role as mystery woman Hannah; thankfully, there were enough glimpses of an actual personality to make her interesting. And, filling the Mrs Hudson role was Orla Brady as the angels’ guide Mrs Sherringham, who should be good value going forward. As fallen angel Richard, Tobias Menzies was easily one of the best things about this episode, all suave charm and barely hidden menace.
Of the two main characters, Ukweli Roach’s Tom worked best when he was gazing in bafflement and wonder at the oddities of Earth; apart from those moments, I can hardly remember a thing he did. For pretty much everything paled in comparison to Samuel West as the excellently-named Zak Gist. He got all the best lines, like describing the shooting victim as Lucy’s “shiny new husband”, and he most certainly got the biggest moments. The biggest, wings-bursting-out-of-his-back, shouting in despair moments. West was just such a delight to watch in the role that I found myself forgetting how ludicrous it all was. Honestly, I just can’t resist the old “grumpy person who secretly really cares” trope; throw in the fact that he’s a dishy, posh angel with a broken heart, and I am there with bells on.
Eternal Law certainly needs some smoothing out going forward, but thanks to the performances and a few great lines, I can’t deny that I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode. Besides, it’s great to see something that’s actually original on our TV screens. Daft, certainly, but original all the same, and for that reason, I’m willing to go with it.
Eternal Law continues Thursday at 9pm on ITV1.
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