The Work
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Background Information
Paul featured as a guest star in the first episode of the second series.
Out of the Blue was a hard-hitting BBC police drama, featuring the same mix of plot-driven and character-based drama as ITV's successful The Bill, but a more generous budget allowed a wider variety of location shoots than that series was then able to manage. By adopting the 50-minute episode format and post-watershed slot of the pre-1988 The Bill, Out of the Blue was able to explore its stories in greater depth and achieve a greater degree of realism. Shot on film, its tight script, fast-paced direction and strong cast made powerful viewing.
Series script editor, Claire Elliot, described the series as "contemporary, gritty, urban reality," that merely used the police setting as a vehicle for telling its stories.
Out of the Blue followed a team of detectives at the fictitious Brazen Gate, Sheffield, through grisly murder cases, clashes with an already divided community and through the dramas of their personal lives.
John Hannah starred as ambitious DS Frankie Drinkall, whose life is turned upside down when he is diagnosed with epilepsy. His refusal to accept his condition led him into a downward spiral and ultimately to his demise. DS Rebecca Bennett (Orla Brady) gave the series an ever-present emotional charge as she found herself the subject of the affections of both PC Alex Holder (Stephen Billington) and DC Warren Allen (Darrell D'Silva), while Neil Dudgeon provides some classic comedy moments as the impetuous DC Marty Brazil.
The second series saw the arrival of troubled DS Jim Llewyn (David Morrissey), who seemed to be working to his own agenda.
A young couple, Matt (Paul Nicholls) & Joanne, report that their child has been snatched from the bus station, but none of the witness statements tie up with their story - did they kill their own child?
A photo processing plant alerts the police to photographs of a bound and gagged woman, but the owner of the photos vehemently denies having anything to do with them. His traumatised daughter, Lucy, appears to be hiding something and turns to Warren for comfort.
1995 represented a significant year for the BBC's police drama aspirations too. In many ways Out of The Blue (1995 - 1996) appeared to be a deliberately up market version of The Bill. There was the same mix of plot driven and character driven drama, but the BBC series was afforded a greater budget allowing for a wider variety of location shoots, and crucially, letting actors and directors spend more time on perfecting scenes. Adopting The Bill's old format of 50 minute episodes as well as finding a place in the schedules post-watershed, also meant that Out of the Blue was able to tell complicated stories, less constricted by what television critic John Foster refers to as "the ameliorating paranoia of the need not to cause offence".
Series script editor, Claire Elliot was keen to ensure that the differences between the two programmes were clearly understood. Whereas The Bill was still most commonly regarded as a drama that dealt with the business of policing, Elliot commented that "What the writers (of Out of the Blue) are trying to do is write about contemporary, gritty, urban reality; they're not writing about the police. Out of the Blue is a kind of useful, dramatic vehicle to tell stories about society today."
The dividing line between soap operas and "stories about society today" is at best, blurred. These days the BBC is comfortable to acknowledge the soap opera elements inherent in many of their ensemble dramas - and indeed often use them to market a particular programme; however back in 1995 the Corporation generally distanced itself from the moniker. However Out of the Blue had more than its fair share of storylines driven by the emotional drives of the series' characters. In particular, the illicit relationship between PC Alex Holder (Stephen Billington) and DS Rebecca Bennett (Orla Brady) dominated much of the first six episodes, and ensured that there was an ever-present emotional charge underpinning the series.
The first series concluded with DI Frank Drinkall (John Hannah) being murdered by a drug addict. Throughout the previous six episodes, the viewer had grown close to Drinkall, who when we first met him was diagnosed with epilepsy. His downward spiral and final dénouement, relied little on the conventions of crime drama, instead focussed on how Drinkall's condition affected his mental well-being. Whilst it might not have been a soap, Out of the Blue was certainly anything but a standard crime drama. This genre positioning was further affirmed in the second series with the introduction of DS Jim Llewyn (David Morrissey), a similarly troubled figure.
Although featuring a very strong cast, excellent production values and scripts described by one overseas newspaper critic as "tautly written, with the sort of crisp, colloquial dialogue you expect from the Brits, it's clammy, a kitchen-sink sort of drama", Out of the Blue failed to establish and sustain a sizeable enough audience. Perhaps the brevity of the programme's two series prevented the characters from gaining the kind of audience familiarity central to soap operas. Regardless, series creator Peter Bowker would later find greater acclaim in the police drama genre with 1998's Undercover Heart.
Related Pages: The Work
External Links: TV.com Programme Summary
Copyright: © 2000 - 2005, Adrian Skeates
This Page created: 23 November, 2005
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