There's a great deal to like in this very well-produced drama. A warning to readers: the biggest plot spoiler is in the cast list - if you know who Richard Wilson is playing then you're half way to spoiling the whole joke as soon as he appears.
And yes, it is very much a joke. Until you realise the fact, a lot of the writers' decisions seem a little too cutesy. Why is Buchan's colleague, who's undercover as a busker singing Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street", called Gerry? Why is John Sessions's Character called Professor Bell, the same name as Conan Doyle's tutor, immortalised in both "Murder Rooms" and "The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle"? Is there a connection between the name of Ian Rankin's detective protagonist, Rebus, and Codex, the name of the record label we see spinning on Buchan's turntable? Why does Newsnight Review, on which Rankin regularly appears, have such a prominent place in the story?
The answer, of course, is that this film is about the games that writers play with their readers. And their characters (there's a big clue in the title. Really). And the fact that writers don't always get things their own way with either. The denouement, when it comes, is genuinely effective, and enables the viewer to enjoy everything that's gone before. Unfortunately, that point is a little too far before the end of the film, and what follows is somewhat too stretched out. Nonetheless, the whole package works well, and features excellent performances from both Alec Newman and Nina Sosanya. This is the sort of genre-bending production that BBC Four has made its own - long may it continue.
And yes, it is very much a joke. Until you realise the fact, a lot of the writers' decisions seem a little too cutesy. Why is Buchan's colleague, who's undercover as a busker singing Gerry Rafferty's "Baker Street", called Gerry? Why is John Sessions's Character called Professor Bell, the same name as Conan Doyle's tutor, immortalised in both "Murder Rooms" and "The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes & Arthur Conan Doyle"? Is there a connection between the name of Ian Rankin's detective protagonist, Rebus, and Codex, the name of the record label we see spinning on Buchan's turntable? Why does Newsnight Review, on which Rankin regularly appears, have such a prominent place in the story?
The answer, of course, is that this film is about the games that writers play with their readers. And their characters (there's a big clue in the title. Really). And the fact that writers don't always get things their own way with either. The denouement, when it comes, is genuinely effective, and enables the viewer to enjoy everything that's gone before. Unfortunately, that point is a little too far before the end of the film, and what follows is somewhat too stretched out. Nonetheless, the whole package works well, and features excellent performances from both Alec Newman and Nina Sosanya. This is the sort of genre-bending production that BBC Four has made its own - long may it continue.