Martin’s Close, on PBS

Judge George Jeffreys was the Roy Bean of the Stuart Era. The hanging judge probably made his share of ghosts if you believe in that sort of thing. However, a haunting allegedly plays a role in a case the old witch-finder presides over in Mark Gatiss’s Martin’s Close, based on another M.R. James short story, which airs this month on participating PBS stations.

Frankly, an elitist squire like John Martin never really believed the law applied to him, but it most definitely does when Judge Jeffreys presides. He might be over-zealous, but the ancient jurist is incorruptible. Nevertheless, this case will be unconventional.

Martin stands accused of murdering Ann Clark, a “simple” village girl, whom the squire “trifled” with, for his own ironic amusement. Tragically, when her clinginess grew inconvenient, he somehow disposed of her, permanently. However, according to witnesses called by Dolben, the King’s Counsel, Clark’s ghost returned to implicate her murderer.

In terms of fairness, this might be one of Judge Jeffreys’ best trials. However, from a modern legal perspective, much of the proceedings with be highly questionable. It also rather prompts an odd question. If the accused did indeed murder someone, but they return as a ghost, should the resulting sentence be reduced, since the victim is not completely gone?

One thing is certain, nobody would want to be prosecuted by anyone who resembles Peter Capaldi. In this adaptation, four or five characters receive roughly equal screen-time, but Capaldi is just as magnetically watchable as ever portraying crafty Dolben. Elliot Levey is rather pompous, in an aptly judgy kind of way as sour old Jeffreys.

Criminal Record, on Apple TV+

Apparently, London already defunded their police, because a senior detective like DCI Daniel Hegerty must moonlight as a high-end Uber driver. It isn’t just Hegerty. According to series star Peter Capaldi, his opening driving scene was based on his real-life experiences getting chauffeured by London officers working second jobs. However, viewers should not expect much sympathy for Hegerty in writer-creator Paul Rutland’s 8-episode Criminal Record, which premieres today on Apple TV+.

Back at the Met, Hegrty is a crafty old fox, who does not suffer fools gladly. Not surprisingly, he resents it when DS June Lenker starts asking questions about a decade-old case. The catalyst is a 911 (equivalent) call from anonymous battered woman in fear for her life. Apparently, London still has public phone booths, so be sure to take a selfie next time you visit.

She would not give her name, but the mystery woman tells the operator her abusive lover threatened to kill her, like he has before. According to her, he claims an innocent man is currently doing twenty-four-years in a certain prison for the murder he committed. After a little research, Lenker determines that must be Errol Matthis, but Hegerty does not take kindly to her questions. In fact, he starts making life very difficult for Lenker.

Yet, unbeknownst to Lenker, Hegerty has taken an active interest Matthis’s estranged step-son, Patrick Burrowes, who, unbeknownst to Hegerty, has started dating the Inspector’s drug-abusing daughter. Eventually, viewers get a fuller appreciation of the pressures Hegerty deals with, both in the present day and during the initial investigation. However, Rutland clearly invites and expects viewers to identify with Team Lenker in the cops’ increasingly personal grudge match.

Despite its in-your-face biases, Criminal Record has some decent police procedural material. However, eight episodes are grossly excessive for the story Rutland is trying to tell. The padding is conspicuous, which means the pacing necessarily suffers. Frankly, Criminal Record probably would have been more successful as a two-hour feature.

Of course, Capaldi is compulsively watchable strutting and snarling his way through the series as Hegerty. He might be far less verbose than his signature roles, but he brings a similarly intense energy. Likewise, Cush Jumbo is nobody’s pushover playing Lenker. When they go toe-to-toe, which happens often, it is always entertaining television.

The Devil’s Hour, on Prime

Perhaps Lucy Chambers should have opted for the security of a freelance writing career. That way she could go to bed at 4:00 AM. Instead, she wakes up each and every night at 3:33 AM precisely. The stress from her work at Child Protective Services probably does not help, but the phenomenon certainly seems to be sinister and uncanny in nature at the start of creator Tom Moran’s The Devil’s Hour, which premieres today on Prime Video.

“Gideon” gives off Hannibal Lecter vibes during the in medias res opening. It appears he is being held in-custody in a police interrogation room, where he has requested Chambers presence, to explain all the madness viewers are about to watch. Rewinding a little, we clearly understand how much stress Chambers is enduring.

Her emotionally-frozen son Isaac is having very disturbing problems at school. For instance, he beats himself up, because other boys told him so. He also often exhibits spooky “shine”-like behavior, claiming to see people who aren’t there and the like, especially around the time Chambers wakes each night. Isaac has been a long-term issue in her life, but recently, Chambers has had premonitions of the grisly murders of an abused wife and daughter, whose cases she handles.

Somehow, those crimes that have not happened yet are related to the brutal case DI Ravi Dhillon is working. There might also be a connection to a notorious local unsolved murder that predates Dhillon. He is on the fast-track, but he still has difficulty stomaching blood. Fortunately, his gruff but understanding sergeant, DS Nick Holness, helps him cover as best he can.

Clearly, Devil’s Hour is intended to be a mind-bending serial killer mystery involving time-travel, or some kind of time-warping, much like Apple TV+’s Shining Girls. However, creator Silka Luisa did a much better job establishing the ground rules in the early episodes. Based on the first two episodes provided for review, it is hard to really understand what is going on, particularly where Gideon fits into it all. Still, episode two, “The Velveteen Rabbit,” ends on a heck of a cliffhanger.

Given what we have seen so far, the procedural stuff is by far more compelling than the melodrama involving Chambers and creepy little Isaac. Both Nikesh Patel and Alex Ferns are terrific as Dhillon and Holness. If they survive season one, we would be willing to watch further X-File-style investigations with their characters.

DOC NYC ’13: Inside the Mind of Leonardo 3D

Probably the best established fact of Leonardo da Vinci’s mysterious life is his brilliance.  It is hardly surprising he has inspired quite a few speculative novels, films, and television shows from the likes of Dan Brown, Ron Howard, Roberto Benigni, and David Goyer.  His art is instantly recognizable, but there are plenty of holes in the historical record, where stuff can be safely made up.  Of course, that just won’t do for DOC NYC or the History Channel.  Scrupulously adapted from da Vinci’s notebooks, Julian Jones gives viewers an impressionistic, 3D portrait of the great Renaissance artist in Inside the Mind of Leonardo, which screened on the final night of this year’s DOC NYC.

Raised by his single servant girl mother, Leonardo had little formal education, but maybe that was just as well, sparing him the burden of a lot of false preconceptions.  Verrocchio certainly recognized his young apprentice’s talents.  However, he was not nearly as prolific a painter as one might assume (or hope).  His journals are another matter.  The extensive da Vinci notebooks offered Jones and his co-screenwriter Nick Dear a treasure trove of material.  With Oxford Professor Martin Kemp vetting for accuracy, they give viewers a good nutshell overview of the original Renaissance man’s life and abiding ambitions.

Forgoing familiar imagery, like Vitruvian Man, Jones and the animation team render da Vinci’s muscular sketches of birds in flight and humans in motion in evocative 3D, while Peter Capaldi performs extracts from the various codexes in the manner of a one-man stage play.  Periodically, Jones also indulges in slow panning shots of modern day Florence and Milan, presumably to anchor the film in its specific locales.  Unfortunately, these often feel like travelogue interludes that get a little snoozy at times.

On the plus side of the ledger, Capaldi is perfectly cast as da Vinci.  He has always been a reliably intelligent presence, but here he vividly projects both the polymath’s arrogance and his melancholy world-weariness.  When watching him in Inside, it is easy to see why he was selected to be the next Doctor Who.  Once he has finished his run as the timelord, he should be able to take a da Vinci show on the road, much like Hal Holbrook’s Mark Twain.

Eschewing jerkins, Capaldi’s modern dress actually heightens the film’s intimacy.  (He rather looks like he might be in his Doctor Who wardrobe, complete with a stylish scarf, but not the full Tom Baker, mind you).  Inside works quite well when it really does go inside—either into da Vinci’s chambers or into the pages of his notebooks.  When it goes outside, soaking up Tuscan landscapes and bustling Florentine street scenes, it waters down its atmosphere and character.  Still, it is an interesting docu-hybrid and an unconventional (but sometimes effective) use of 3D.  Recommended for art and history buffs, Inside the Mind of Leonardo is destined to have a limited theatrical release and an eventual airdate on the History Channel, following its premiere at DOC NYC 2013.