BBC1's Mayday.

Shown over five consecutive nights BBC1's "Mayday" is essentially the Rosie Larson storyline from "The Killing." A popular blond haired, blue eyed 14 year old girl goes missing in a tight knit, rural community. Over the next four hours we are forced wonder if she has been murdered and which (if any) of a group of local men committed the murder. In order to demonstrate how popular she was while bringing up age of consent issues and Pagan traditions we first learn the girl is missing when she fails to take her place as the May Queen at the Mayday (May 1st) fair.

The first possible suspect tonight's episode focused on was Peter Firth's property developer. Enduring the unhappy marriage (health worries/wife on HRT) that many upper middle-class people will be familiar with Firth's character represents the encroachment of house building onto Green Belt land which is further emphasised the fact that it is hard to classify whether the story is set in a village or a town.

Another possible suspect is the 'local weirdo' dressed in the florescent yellow jacket. As soon as the girl went missing he went and raised a posse of local men to go and "Kill the Paedoes!" Once he'd gradually assessed which of the local men weren't paedophiles he led his posse to go and search the woods. This man's florescent yellow jacket represents the construction industry while his posse represents the white sub-working class (the Peasant class). Obviously his relationship with Firth's character raises all sorts of nerdy town and county planning issues. However he and his posse are mainly a commentary on the English Defence League (EDL).

Then there is the beautiful but troubled male youth (17-20yo). The fact that he sells himself for sex to men on the Internet suggests that he is a homosexual. However his burgeoning relationship with the missing girl's twin sister suggests that he might be a heterosexual. The fact that the twin sister has dyed her hair black and gone all goth really thwacks home the reference to the US version of The Killing. The fact she is a twin brings up all sorts of issues of shared consciousness.

Another possible suspect is beautiful but troubled male youth's father played by Aiden Gillen. Probably most famous as Tommy Carcetti in "The Wire" this Irish actor first came to prominence in Channel 4's "Queer as Folk." This saw him engage in so many male on male sex scenes it pretty much qualified as gay porn. Therefore the relationship between him and his son is going to be interesting. In the show he is dealing (badly) with the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) brought about by his wife's sudden and accidental death and has this belief that he has this ability to speak to someone for just five minutes and see right into their souls. So for the rest of the show Aiden Gillen will basically be playing versions of me.

Finally we have long serving Sophie Okonedo's former police officer now mother character. Being both black and female rather then being a suspect Okonedo's character will be more sort of the vessel through which the story is told. Or "Soothsayer." Equally her serving police officer husband is not a suspect. However the fact that in the line of duty someone spat blood all over his face along with his sexual relationship with his wife raises the issue of HIV/AIDS/Hepatitis while making us feel really supportive of the police. 

Although it has been updated to include references to things like cellphones and the Internet I'm pretty sure I saw this exact same programme broadcast in 2 consecutive 1hr episodes on BBC2 in the mid-late 1990's. However the fact that I cannot remember the name of that show is now going to annoy me for probably the rest of my life.

22:35 on 3/3/13.