E d g e o f D a r k n e ss

Edge of Darkness
Starring Bob Peck, Joanne Whalley and Joe Don Baker
Directed by Martin Campbell
Written by Troy Kennedy Martin
Certificate 15. 1985, colour, running time 314 minutes
Published by BBC Drama
Region 2, 2-Disc DVD
Price £15.99

Edge of Darkness stands as the archetypal 1980s British political thriller. Written by Troy Kennedy Martin, the screenwriter on films such as Kelly's Heroes and The Italian Job, it brought together a number of themes prevalent at the time. These include the 'Star Wars' Strategic Defence Initiative, the year long Miner's Strike that was protesting against a program of pit closures, the growing environmental protest, the reach of big government, and the increasing co-operation between the nuclear state and the big business of the nuclear industry.

These forces coalesce around a Yorkshire police detective, Ronald Craven (Bob Peck), who whilst investigating the ballot rigging of a miner's union election, suffers the tragedy of his daughter, Emma (Joanne Whalley), being gunned down in front of him. The official line is that she was killed by a member of the IRA seeking revenge upon Craven for his time and work in Northern Ireland years before, but Craven believes that there is another explanation. Discovering that Emma not only owned a handgun and a Geiger counter, but that there was a file on her political activities; Craven is drawn into the murky and potentially dangerous worlds of secret intelligence and political activism in search of answers. As he learns more and more, Craven becomes a reluctant tool for both, and in an effort to finish his daughter's aims, this culminates in him entering a high security mine under the Yorkshire Moors, where it is thought that there is a nuclear processing plant illegally producing plutonium. In this, he is accompanied by an increasingly rogue Colonel in the CIA, Darius Jedburgh (Joe Don Baker), and occasionally, the spirit or ghost of his dead daughter.

Edge of Darkness is a classy piece of television, with an excellent cast and superb score from Michael Kamen and Eric Clapton. Though set in the mid-1980s, it has dated little and despite the political changes since, it still feels relevant. The 2-disc set comes with a number of special features, not least of which is the score, though the various interviews and excerpts from awards ceremonies and television reviews do themselves feel very dated. Best amongst the special features is 'Magnox – The Secrets of Edge of Darkness', which includes interviews with the writer, cast and production team. Made especially for the DVD release, it is unfortunate that neither of the two of the three main stars still alive could have contributed (Bob Peck having died in 1999).

The question is, of what relevance is this series to Call of Cthulhu? To the Mythos itself, very little, but it could easily form the basis of a campaign that focused upon the aims of two cults with differing aims. For example, worshippers of Nyarlathotep forwarding the interests of the nuclear industry against those of environmentalists secretly backed by Shub-Niggurath cultists. That is only a crude suggestion, but Edge of Darkness is perhaps more relevant to Delta Green and particularly Delta Green: Countdown with its depiction of intelligence and security agencies here in the UK. Their laid back approach to the situation, though still with a hard edge, as portrayed in the splendid roles of Harcourt and Pendleton (Charles Kay and Ian McNeice) may not be anything other than fictional, as is the big-hearted cowboy style of Jedburgh, but it provides an easily grasped way in which such characters can be portrayed within a game. Indeed, the series has had no little influence upon Call of Cthulhu within British fan circles, with the characters of Harcourt and Pendleton being adapted to the rules and at least one convention-run scenario being based upon the series. But however you want to use Edge of Darkness, it is still a gripping political thriller that warrants your time and attention.

© Matthew Pook