User Reviews

The story for this episode is actually quite good. The passion Andy has for a missing child and how it doesn't ultimately relate to the other major crime that's going on... all very interesting and captivating. The problem with The Price of Fame (TPOF) is the direction and editing (or lack there of possibly) is so disjointed and just plain sloppy it took me right out of the show.

The listed director is David Wheatley, and this episode is apparently not his first attempt, not even for this show, but it seems he may have been on something when making this one. There's also the overused premise of sidelining Delziel, only to bring him back shortly after. At this point in the show what would've set it apart would've been to have Andy and Peter get along well and have each others' back for once, like a good buddy-cop story does.

Between these criticisms, and the loss of yet another great character (Wield), it made me wish TPOF had taken place in the previous season/series instead of that two part holiday special. I don't know why there aren't more consistent supporting characters, since the main characters are frequently at odds, but Wieldy, Tweety, and the redhead who's name escapes me is most definitely missed going forward.

With the cast in this story, this should have been a 10 but the main story does seem quite drab apart from the irony of a young James Corden in a fairground somewhere other than Barry Island.

The earthy allure of Claire King gives a bit of a lift but the annoying Ricky Tomlinson and several other famous faces detracts from the story which is mainly like a soap opera (this was written by Tony McHale of EastEnders fame).

For me, only the last 10 minutes was worth watching.

That part of the storyline with lesser known actors would have been much better and returned the viewer to the early days of this once great series.

A generous 7 for the amount of names they managed to feature such as local newsreading legend Alan Towers and Freddie Garrity in his final performance.

Every season seems to have at least two episodes where Dalziel is suspended for some reason, or he has health problems that keep him from working. It is kind of annoying

Also annoying is that Paskoe clearly has no respect for Andy, and just tolerates him. In the past season he has also become the main informant against Andy whenever he violates legal procedures. That makes him a rat in my eyes, and I would hate to work with someone who is taking notes to get me fired or demoted.

By the same token, Andy is a pig, and he seems to get a drink at every place he visits, and he really digs into his balls when he grabs them, usually for about 15-20 seconds. Maybe all that characterization is in the books, but I think they could skip some of it for the TV series.

Overall, the story is very disjointed. There is a missing girl, and a missing diamond courier, and a missing friend of James Corden who is with another friend on a fake Bachelor's Party for a fake wedding. Why this was the last thing anyone figured out is another reason this episode was weak. It seemed like everyone was trying miss clues, and it was all about personal issues.

When stories toss in too much personal stuff, it is usually because the actual mystery writing is weak and sloppy, as it was here. With less personal animosity, this story could have been shaped up into a better mystery, and it could have been a fun mystery story. It had a lot of good actors, but I think they were mostly wasted due to the choppy story.