#television: Five Cracking TV Series That Were Cancelled Too Bloody Soon.

Down and out and decidedly louche private eyes are pretty much par for the course, even when so many of them dress better that me on a good day. In fact, post Steve Martin’s Dead Men Don’t Wear Tartan, it’s pretty difficult to put a new spin on the tired old tropes. However, the TV series Terriers (2010) did just that. Rather than jam on the old good cop/ bad cop riff, Terriers gave us a rubbish PI/ a bit more rubbish PI team. And it was bloody brilliant. Great characters, great acting (Donal Logue especially), great stories, great dialogue, hell it even had a catchy theme song from Rob Duncan. And it was cancelled after one season.

I’ve really never seen the point of having a cake unless you’re going to eat it but then again I am a bit of a fat twat. Giri/ Haji had a veritable cornucopia of cakes as well as a selection of ‘foyn woyns.’ Ostensibly the story of a? Japanese cop’s search for his lowlife missing brother in England, Giri/ Haji was choc full of action, gangsters, warmth, houmour and beautiful opening sequences to EVERY episode. There were some great character actors , too, especially Takehiro Hira, Kelly Macdonald and Will Sharpe as RodneyThe BBC cancelled it, it seems, so they must be twats.

Crazyhead were a band from Leicester who had a few minor hits in the ‘90s. ?It was also the name of a TV show. Amy and Raquel were?CRAZYHEAD’ s ill matched duo that lead a cracking, off-beat horror comedy. There was real chemistry between the two stars and the acting and dialogue were pretty much top drawer throughout the short, sharp series. There was some beaut swearing too! A corker! Cancelled, of course.

Truth Seekers was the story of a bunch of oddball conspitacy theorists who stumble into a real life mystery. It had a terrific ensemble cast ( Nick Frost, Emma D’Arcy, Samson Kayo) and some cracking cameos from the likes of Simon Pegg, Kelly Macdonald, and Malcolm McDowell, and it was really funny. Mrs the Guillitine soon cut that one off in its prime, though.

BLACKPOOL ?is one of my favourite TV series of all time. Gritty crime fiction and dark humour collide with song and dance, and the results are bloody outstanding. Great acting, a cracking yarn, splendid dialogue - Blackpool surfs waves of surrealism while remaining completely realistic. Like Dennis Potter with heart, writer?Peter Bowker ?created something really special. To be honest, it would probably be impossible to come up with a follow up to this gem, so I suppose I’ll let them off. Just.

(c) Paul D, Brazill.