[New post] Waking the Dead: #50 – S05 E12 – Part 2/2 – “Cold Fusion” – Trevor Eve, Sue Johnston, Wil Johnson, Esther Hall, Félicité du Jeu
adamsmith1922 posted: " Spencer comes under suspicion when a double murder he worked on eighteen years ago is re-examined. DNA profiling proves the wrong man was convicted, and when Felix discovers that someone is trying to destroy the new evidence, the signs point to one of he" The Inquiring Mind
Spencer comes under suspicion when a double murder he worked on eighteen years ago is re-examined. DNA profiling proves the wrong man was convicted, and when Felix discovers that someone is trying to destroy the new evidence, the signs point to one of her colleagues. However, a package that arrives for Spencer turns out to be a gas bomb that injures Felix, forcing the detectives to reconsider. The team are placed in quarantine while the substance that harmed Felix is identified, but Spencer has already gone in search of the suspect whose DNA was found at the scene. By the time Boyd realises a dangerous insider is damaging his investigation, he is sealed into the building. Spencer, the only one who was not inside the building when the gas bomb exploded, is then left to carry on the investigation on his own, in the face of overwhelming odds and opposition from far higher circles of power. A confrontation between Boyd and Stella's former guardian (an extreme-right leaning MI5 officer who manipulated Stella in the current case), confirms Boyd's liberal leaning.
The programme follows the work of a special police team that investigates "cold cases", which usually concern murders that took place a number of years ago, and were never solved. The team, composed of head officer Detective Superintendent Peter Boyd (Trevor Eve), psychological profiler Grace Foley (Sue Johnston), Detective Inspector Spencer Jordan (Wil Johnson), as well as a number of other supporting characters, uses evidence which has recently come to light, as well as contemporary technology to examine former evidence.
Initially, Boyd, Grace and Spence were accompanied by junior DC Mel Silver (Claire Goose), and stern forensic scientist Frankie Wharton (Holly Aird), however both left after the end of the fourth series. Felix Gibson (Esther Hall) and Stella Goodman (Félicité du Jeu) replaced them in the fifth series, before Eve Lockhart (Tara Fitzgerald) replaced Felix from the sixth series onwards. Katarina Howard (Stacey Roca) replaced Stella in series eight, while Sarah Cavendish (Eva Birthistle) replaced Katarina in series nine. Although the plotlines generally centre around the case, other storylines have been incorporated across the years, including Boyd's anger management issues and his being re-united with his son, Grace suffering from cancer, Spencer being shot at the hands of one of his former colleagues, and Mel's death, which creates a chain of events lasting across two series.
The show also addressed sensitive issues such as fanaticism within different religions, international organised crime, child abuse within the Catholic Church, war crimes in Bosnia, forced child labour, torture, homophobia and racism. The BBC issued disclaimers twice on the show when it touched upon issues sensitive to the Labour government of the time (once about banking frauds within the City of London establishment and once about the involvement of the UK in the Iraq war). Some of the issues were dealt with through the conflicting views of Peter Boyd (a white middle-class liberal) and Spencer Jordan (a black working-class conservative).
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