This Year's Love (1999)

 

Denise Mina's Field of Blood

Spotted via a google alert:

"BBC Scotland is to bring the first of Glasgow crime writer Denise Mina’s Paddy Meehan detective novels to the small screen next year.

The Field of Blood, written and directed by David Kane, will begin filming next month and casting of the two-part production will be announced soon.

The good news is that they're not adapting Denise Mina's Garnethill for the screen. I feel particularly precious about Maureen and Leslie, and I know in advance that I'll wince at whoever they cast for those particular parts in a screen adaptation. (I'm sure that adaptation is coming at some point, though).

That's the good news.

The bad news is that Field of Blood is being adapted for the screen by David Kane. The same bloke who brought the Rebus novels to the screen. That really doesn't bode well. And what with Scotland only having 17 working actors at any one time, we'll no doubt be seeing an overlap of actors from the Rebus adaptation in the tv version of Field of Blood.

I hate to be unduly harsh to Kane - fingers crossed he's not one of those types who look themselves up on the internet - 'cos I love his original work for tv and film. His self-penned This Year's Love; Dream Baby; and a Shadow On The Earth were all wonderful but I had to switch Ken Stott's Rebus off after seven minutes. (It would have been five minutes but I had pins and needles at the time.)

Fingers crossed. Happy to be proved wrong some time next year.

Loved It!!!!!

I can't find it on video, and I would have to sell a kidney to buy it on DVD, but I was in seventh heaven last night when, flicking through the channels, I discovered that This Year's Love* was on UKTV Drama. Granted it isn't the greatest film in the world, and it won't be denting the Sight and Sound All Time Top Ten Films any time soon, but I've always had a soft spot for that film.

It may be because it contains yet another stellar performance from Kathy Burke that seals it for me: Where she exclaims, half shouting in anger and half laughing "You've tattoed Celtic4Ever on my arse . . . I'm Arsenal, me"; or that scene with Dougray Scott in the supermarket; or even where she performs the herculean task of singing a David Gray song, and making it sound wonderful. I've no idea, as there are too many to list - she is just the bees knees.

Oh aye, and Lisa, in case you didn't know, Dougie Henshall is in it. He plays a charismatic Scotsman.

*Writer/Director, David Kane, also wrote the absolutely brilliant Dream Baby way back in 1989 for the BBC. Yet another one of those songs/films/books/tv programmes/childhood chocolate bars/political cartoonist/football players, etc, etc, that I can have a tendency to rant and rave about, and no other bugger knows what the hell I am havering about.