Quotable quote:
"I have no idea what's happened to my buttless leather chaps."
So, Dredd's back
in Brit-Cit again in this one. This time, he is charged with protecting the heir
to the British throne, after the Royals are wiped out in a bomb attack.
Why Dredd? I hear
you all ask. What the hell has he to do with the British royal family? Well, not
wanting to dump a spoiler in this review, even a smallish one, I can tell you
the heir is a citizen of the Big Meg. That, I think, is reason enough for Dredd
to be forced headlong into a confrontation with the British aristocracy.
In this particular
adventure, we are miles away from the Kafkaesque darkness that was employed to
great effect in the previous adventure, David Bishop's 'War Crimes'.
Here, we are firmly in the world of broad comedy. Even to the point of a Ronnie
Barker voiced news reader delivering the reports in a way familiar to all of us
of a certain age. Nice touches abound, from St. Paul McCartney's Cathedral, to
the names of the royal corgis.
Cavan Scott has
created some terrific comedy characters here. Brightly Shines is a fortysomething,
former pop singer, who is on a mission to resurrect her career. I am sure that
she is in no way at all based on one of our current pop sensations *Cough* Spears
*cough*. Helen Goldwyn also shows herself to be an actor and mimic of no mean
talent, as she also handles the role of Queen Betty.
Producer and director
John Ainsworth , rather suspiciously I think, has cast himself as Polearm, the
faithful Royal robot. I say suspicious, because he's cast himself in a pretty
good role. And why not, I say? It's his show after all... But, top comedy honours
go to Ian Brooker for Dicky Davidson, a character who brings to mind a certain
mahogany-stained television presenter. This character is nothing short of a triumph;
he's laugh out loud funny, and the highlight of the production.
Now for what's
wrong.
First, a fanboy
quibble. According to the back of the box, the story is set in June 2126. However,
the citizens of Brit-Cit are enjoying on television, the magnificent spectacle
of Slob Idol 2125. Though, on second thoughts, knowing British TV, it's no doubt
a repeat...
Another problem,
though not a fault of the writing, more a general drawback with this scale of
production, is the whodunit aspect of the plot. The main culprit is pretty obvious
from the get go. But given that the cast numbers no more than half a dozen characters,
this can't be helped.
What you've got
here is a frothy light tale. Underneath this though, lurks a far darker animal.
Again, I can't say much, as I am not prepared to put in a spoiler. But one strand
of narrative here is pretty horrific, if you stop to consider the implications
of it. Like the recent Dredd tale 'Meet the Flooks', this has a nice funny surface
tale, but if you scrape just a little below the skin, it's not very nice. Scott
has, I think, some interesting thoughts on the cult of celebrity, and just what
people are prepared to do to get to that status. Listen to this, then think about
it.
