You all know the recipe when it comes to detective shows: a pre-credits sequence features a grisly murder; a cop battling their demons tries to find the killer; a few hours of moody dialogue; rounded off nicely with a frantic showdown.
Ragdoll is contains all the things you’d expect from a modern whodunnit but it’s got something else, too, nearly as sharp as the needle used by the show’s Dr Frankenstein villain.
A cadaver discovered on a council estate is in fact the sewn-together body parts of six different corpses. Well, craft really has taken off over the past few years, I suppose.
The script for Ragdoll is a bit like that gruesome discovery: a hotchpotch of different TV shows ranging from Messiah to Wire In The Blood to, oddly, Killing Eve.
Everything serious Ragdoll tries to do is matched by its jet-black sense of humour and eye for the ridiculous.
In fact, the dead body having the head of the serial killer who thwarted the lead investigator and condemned him to a mental hospital is just the start of the daftness.
Oh yeah, the chief detective is therefore implicated in the murder; don’t think Ragdoll doesn’t know how silly this is.
The undoubted highlight was the Mayor of London, played by Phil Davies, esteemed actor from The Bounty, promptly bursting into flames in episode one; a moment which had me hooting with delight.
Ragdoll, Alibi
Enjoy the convenience of having The Sunday Post delivered as a digital ePaper straight to your smartphone, tablet or computer.
Subscribe for only £5.49 a month and enjoy all the benefits of the printed paper as a digital replica.
Subscribe