Touch

Adding Touch to our list of must watch programmes.  I thoroughly enjoyed Tim Kring's previous serious Heroes so Touch already had my attention.

Having watched two episodes now I have to say I am hooked.  

Touch follows the story of Martin Bohm, a man widowed during 9/11 and left to care for his autistic son Jake, whom he is devoted to but unable to connect with or really understand.

I'm not a massive Keifer Sutherland fan and I am struggling to find him terribly believable as the devoted father in touch but the story itself has me so captivated I can let that pass.

The young male actor chosen to play Jake is one of the most beautiful children I have ever seen, his eyes seem to portray all the emotion that as an autistic child he is unable to share. So if he's good as a child when he reaches adulthood his career is going to be worth following.

What drew me to this series originally was the ideas behind it... that there are these tiny moments in time that seem so unimportant, like tiny ripples in a pond, they mean nothing to us but that those ripples radiate outwards and connect us all in ways we can't see or appreciate.  It's made me wonder does coincidence actually exist or is there a plan?  Are there really invisible strings that draw us all together and does everything we do, everything we say, every call we make or thought we have connected and important?

The other aspect of the show that has captured me is the love,  I wasn't expecting that.  The absolute unconditional love this man has for this child who does not connect with him, who cannot say I love you dad and cannot bear to be touched, who doesn't "give back" to this parent all the moments we parents cherish and yet, this man fights to keep his son, fights to understand him and is prepared to take the leap of faith to follow the map his child is setting him. 

If you haven't seen the show, I would recommend that you find it and watch it.  But be prepared, having tissues because you will cry... ok maybe you won't, but I blubbed like a baby. 

Catch Touch Tuesdays 8pm on Sky 1

Review - The Shadow Line

BBC2's The Shadow Line has been  an incredible visual ride.   Written by Hugo Blick this is an incredibly dark journey into the shadowy underbelly of the drugs world and even darker world of corruption within the police force.  

Right from the start you are never quite sure who is on who's side. 

Starring:

Chiwetel Ejiofor

Christopher Eccleston 

Richard Lintern 

Robert Pugh

There isn't a single "filler" episode or time wasting moment, it's a non stop rollercoaster of a series that shocks you at every single turn.  Just when you think you know who the baddies are and why they have done what they have done... someone who appeared to have been a thoroughly "good guy" turns out to to have been a "right wrong 'un". 

This series was a real jolt to the system, the acting was excellent, the story very hard hitting and deep and although the body count was quite high by the end of the series, none of the violence was there just to shock, even though it did shock.  

I got the sense of the shadow that the title of the series speaks of, the struggle that a good cop has to stay a good cop when all around him the people who are supposed to be colleagues and on his side are quietly working on their own agenda's.  

Watch it, Watch it!  Watch it!!!!