Baptiste, BBC 1, Sunday at 9pm
The baddies in crime drama tend to reflect the times.
In the 1980s it was almost always the Russians, hardly surprising given that most cinema was produced by the Americans.
Recently it has returned to the Russians (House of Cards), but in between it flitted between the Arabs, the Chinese and various terror groups.
In drama closer to home, it often becomes eastern Europeans, particularly when it comes to sex crime. Perhaps they have form in this area, I have no idea, but script writers seem to have decided that Slavic sounding names are sinister
The baddies in Baptiste appear to be a Romanian or Lithuanian sex trafficking gang, led by the enigmatic and dangerous ‘Drago’. It’s pronounced with reverberation and a long ‘a’ to increase the impact.
Baptiste is a spin-off of the successful Missing series, which ran for two years finishing in 2016.
The lead French detective (played by Tcheky Karyo) was such a hit that he’s getting his own series.
There’s a formula here. Missing child or vulnerable young person, desperate parents and the cool, rational, intellectual Baptise to the rescue.
By 2019 Baptise has formally retired and is restricted by the removal of a brain tumour, but the desire to help remains and he answers a call from the Amsterdam police chief.
Sex worker Natalie Rose is missing and her uncle, who raised her, is desperate to find her.
Baptise finds her in a canal boat but also discovers that her uncle in not simply a concerned relative and has a severed head in his cellar.
The head we presume belongs to the man we saw murdered in the opening sequence by a killer who said he was Lithuanian.
But the real shock for viewers arrives at the end of episode one when Baptise figures out that the feared Drago is now living as transsexual Kim Vogel.
Vogel (as if in a CSI interrogation) admits her greatest secret immediately, claiming she is now running a social enterprise prostitution business which puts the power in the hands of the women.
It was left unexplained how Baptise unravelled the mystery while Vogel’s devoted boyfriend, who wants to marry her, is in the dark.
Tcheky Karyo is very watchable and Baptiste is well produced, written and acted, just don’t expect to be stretched by drama as predictable as this.
***
Now You See Me, RTE 1, Monday at 7.30pm
Now You See Me is RTE’s contribution to promoting cycling.
The four part series will see Simon Delaney (a dedicated motorist) and Bláthnaid Treacy find out what it’s like to be a cyclist in Ireland.
In episode one we met with a Donegal family which was trying to use bicycles for all its transport needs for a week, saw how cyclists are treated in Copenhagen, one of the most bike friendly cities in the world, and investigated why Irish cyclists and motorists clash.
The lack of understand was put down to one significant figure - 80 per cent of cyclists drive, but just 10 per cent of drivers cycle.
There was some useful information here and the advice from Denmark’s cycling tzar was excellent, but there was something of the public information film feeling about it.
***
The Brit Awards, UTV, Wednesday at 8pm
It's undoubtedly a reflection of my age, but pop music has got incredibly dull.
There's always been manufactured pop, but it seems all consuming now. There wasn't a single act at the Brits which was novel or exciting.
I suppose what else would be expect from an event sponsored by a credit card company.
