The Identity Thread *spoilers*

[Nia M]

As suggested by JHyde, 'Identity' now has its own thread

Quote:IDENTITY, a new six part ITV drama series starring Aidan Gillen and Keeley Hawes, follows an elite police unit formed to combat the explosion of identity-related crime.

Ed Whitmore’s newly created IDENTITY is here to tackle the darker side of reinvention: murderers who literally take other people’s lives, criminals who create new personas to escape evil pasts, impostors who look, talk and sound just like us but would kill you in a heartbeat.

The unit, lead by DSI Martha Lawson, (Keeley Hawes - Ashes to Ashes, Mutual Friends), works any case where making an identification is a significant part of solving the crime by outsmarting, hunting down and unmasking the modern day Jekyll and Hydes.

~ From the Identity Production Notes

Other cast include Aiden Gillen as DI John Bloom, Holly Aird as Tessa Stein (IT expert), Shaun Parkes as DS Anthony Wareing, and Elyes Gabel as DC José Rodriguez.

First episode of six aired yesterday at 9pm on ITV1.

So, post away!!

(P.S. I thought the little question mark post icon was appropriate, given the nature of the show... )

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Resposted from the 'Spooks Actors - New Projects' thread:

Running commentary throughout the airing:

Noticed that the way the voiceover announced ‘ITV1 HD’ made it rhyme with ‘Identity’

Interesting title sequence – bit flashy, but rather dull music. Certainly if I hadn’t seen the adverts for it, the titles might have put me off.

Was rather odd to hear Keeley Hawes without quite her standard accent, although she did lapse back into it a fair bit which was even more distracting that the slightly rougher edge to it she put on First time I noticed she slipped back to normal was just after the 1st ad break, when she was reeling off a long speech, which, fair enough, is quite difficult to do if you’re doing an accent, but someone ought to have picked up on that and mentioned it. If she’s going to do an accent, it should at least be consistent.

Filming wise, I loved the big wide shots of London – Trafalgar Square etc. – and even the wide shot of the street where the guy shot himself. Also particularly liked the shot with the reflection of the revolving Scotland Yard sign in the window.

“Hang on a minute. Let me show off, please.”
^^ Loved it

Reason I dislike watching programmes on ITV? The ad breaks Rather distracting, even if it did give me time to be getting on with my French homework

Oh dear, I can’t seem to be getting Spooks out of mind. Not only do I keep wanting to call Martha Zoe, when she answered the phone and said ‘Tessa’, well... Let’s just say I could have sworn I was watching Spooks!

‘The Identity Unit’. Original name. Would have been nice to have a slightly more flashy / inventive name. Or even something that could be prettily abbreviated like ‘UCOS’...

Ooh, Bloom’s good at the mind games! Slightly disconcerting that John (at the moment anyway) appears to be a better police officer than Martha does, considering she’s two ranks above him...

“Okay, next time I’m taking the train.”
I know it’s drama, but even so, the idea that you can find out so much from just knowing Frequent Flyer details is rather alarming Bit of an eye-opener this series looks like it could shape up to be.

“You don’t have to know someone to kill them.”
Again, harsh, but disturbingly true.

“Knowledge is power, and he knows everything.”
I really so seem to pick out the morose lines, don’t I? Still, some good writing in here.

Anyone else notice the rather Spooks-esque electronic sound (rather like the one that happens when they move to a different location and the name of said location comes up in that scattered caption-y thing) when the scene shifted?

Kind of scary how easily it could be just to kill someone in a hospital...

“Get your coat.”
(*whispers* “You’ve pulled.” *slaps hand* Must not think Ashes to Ashes!!! )

The sound in the ‘Identity’ frame (the red one where it just says ‘Identity’, before the car advert at the beginning and end of each ad break) reminded me of the Torchwood title sequence too.

I did like the running chase scene, it has to be said. We’ve certainly be missing out on these a little in Spooks lately, so it was quite nice to have one again That said, I really wanted Martha to come up behind Simon/Pete and show DI Bloom how to make an arrest properly.

Fairly good cliffhanger at the end there, but not brilliant. Still, I quite want to know what Bloom was doing there (to say he was turned during his 15 year undercover stints seems a bit predictable, and if I’m honest, would be a bit tame).

Another familiar face at the end there in Adile. I thought I recognised her (loved the green dress by the way), so I looked her up, and lo and behold! Agni Scott, aka Ana Bakhsi!

Overall, I admit I was a tad disappointed. Not enough Keeley for what the trailers showed, and her character didn’t get enough screen-time especially considering she’s supposed to be heading this Identity Unit – it was very much focused on DI John Bloom. Hopefully in later episodes she’ll get a bit more time to shine.

I will be watching next week, if only to see if it improves, but although it potentially could be very good, I think it’s been bigged up a bit too much for its boots.

Also, can anyone tell me if the guy who appeared to have committed suicide after shooting the police officer in the leg (who was said officer anyway?) actually died, or was he Curtis who we saw again later???

[Kazters]

im not 100% sure if i liked it or not! yes the cast was good and yes it looked good but i wasnt hooked! i was rather facinated by how tight keeleys skirt was! and some of the lines distracted me as the made me think of ashes i.e. get your coat (my words were youve pulled also when she answerd the phone to tess i thought spooks!

but ill give it another go but it did seem the story and over all plot let it down! but it got 5.6 million on overnights which considering it was only on in england, wales and n irleland scotland where i live STV arent showing it they are repeating taggart i had to watch it on ITV london!

[Tea Lady]

(06-07-2010 05:34 PM)Kazters Wrote:  im not 100% sure if i liked it or not! yes the cast was good and yes it looked good but i wasnt hooked! i was rather facinated by how tight keeleys skirt was! and some of the lines distracted me as the made me think of ashes i.e. get your coat (my words were youve pulled also when she answerd the phone to tess i thought spooks!

but ill give it another go but it did seem the story and over all plot let it down! but it got 5.6 million on overnights which considering it was only on in england, wales and n irleland scotland where i live STV arent showing it they are repeating taggart i had to watch it on ITV london!

I agree Kazters. I will give it another go but I thought the plot was very weak and too much was squeezed into one episode. I thought the end was very poor with Aiden Gillen chasing the boy for ages, then got stuck behind a fence, but then got round the fence. It was like a French farce! Some of the writing was also poor. KH looked fab but she was half naked throughout most of it, which is why a lot of people will probably tune in next week. If you look on the net, the reviews are quite mixed which really isn't good for a first episode of a new series.

[TygerBright]

the only thing that half convinced me to watch the second episode - the last 4 minutes. Slightest bit of suspense.
At the risk of getting slauhtered, I've never got that Keeley Hawes hype (I never really liked Zoe), and I just didn't get drawn into the ep.. no real chemistry between the main characters, plot was slightly interesting to start with but never really took off, and while I'll re-watch it to see if I missed any potentially redeeming features (I wasn't paying that much attention last night) I doubt that it'll get me hooked.
Bring on Luther series 2 instead

[YourFutureMuse]

I did like this actually, not mind blown but will definitely be watching next week. I like the actors, Keeley of course and Frankie from waking the dead and Guppy from Casualty (who I may or may not have had a 'crush' on when younger

I definitely like the idea behind the series, identity theft is I think an original one and really good so I hope the suspense factor does pick up next week

[Nia M]

My thoughts on episode 2 (unfortunately I missed the first twenty minutes):

Overall, I think it picked up a fair bit compared to last time - certainly more interesting to watch for me anyway.

Still some music [b]very[b] reminiscent of Spooks (approx. 20 minutes in)

May have to rethink my opinions on Joanne Froggatt. Haven't really liked the previous roles she's played, but I thought she did a fair job in this one. Very adaptable to accents (more so that Keeley and her wafting between her normal and slightly less refines accent ) - good range she showed here in this episode.

"Do you ever wanna be someone else."
I have no idea who Samatha Shipley is, but when Martha said she's want to be her for her legs (in part at least), I quite literally slapped my forehead. As if she (KH / Martha) didn't have amazing enough legs already!!

"wounds of an abusive childhoos festering in her head"
Is is just me, or does this sound like the kind of thing a Gene-influence Alex would have said??

Couldn't help but think 'Ana Bakhsi' throughout her scenes - but am still not entirely sure who she's supposed to be playing...

Loved the sly/surreptitious look Martha gave John in the car

Honestly, don't you think you might notice someone staring through your window so obviously?

"Tessa."
Need I say more?

Christ, don't aggravate an angry, unstable woman! Gail (I think that's her name - my memory once again fails me) should really see that that's not the best thing to be doing!

Finally Martha gets a chase-scene. (Okay, it wasn't much of a chase scene, but it was certainly an improvement on last ep when she was left flailing in a bookshelf while Bloom did all the work. She still didn't get enough action for my liking though - she's supposed to be the boss! Set and example, be the best, all that jazz...)

Who picked up the knife?

"Because he's my dad."
Pretty pertinent episode if you put yourself in her place. I did, and I immediately started thinking what I would do if that were my dad. Quite honestly, I'd probably forgive him to, purely because he was my dad. Once I considered that, I found it a lot easier to understand Jane Calshaw, and it was quite hard-hitting really

"Who am I? What defines me? What can I hold on to?"
Rather liked this line. Certainly applicable to other shows of the similar kind (Ashes, Spooks etc.) in that it questions the nature of people working undercover, and how they cope - really interesting concept here. Could have been handled better though.

If Bloom gets away with having stabbed the man, I will be rather disappointed. Not because I don't like him or anything (although I've not exactly warmed to him yet), but because no-one gets away with stabbing someone nowadays in that kind of situation, not even if it's self-defence or the ends supposedly justify the means.

Still, in my opinion a step up from the last episode, so I'll give it a go again next Monday

[Tea Lady]

Right, I gave it another go and I have to say Mr TL and I were quite enjoying it, up to the 55th minute. The plot was easier to follow, there was some action and some neat little twists. But when he locked the door and stabbed the father in the leg, it just went completely out of the window for me. How unbelievable do you want to make this program! And then he just waltzed out of the room and Martha gave him a smile, like good police work Bloom! Right love, what you do, BEING A POLICE PERSON, is slap him in handcuffs because he has just tried to kill a witness and has at the least committed GBH. HELLO !!

As for Anna Bakshi, what on earth is she doing in the program? I thought she was in Canada?

Mr TL has refused to watch again. I may join him in that.

[Nia M]

Yeah, the last five minutes were not the best. Wholly unrealistic, and just exaggerated really. But I'm still going to watch next week, because it was certainly better than last time!

[Tea Lady]

(12-07-2010 11:09 PM)Nia M Wrote:  Yeah, the last five minutes were not the best. Wholly unrealistic, and just exaggerated really. But I'm still going to watch next week, because it was certainly better than last time!

I do agree with that. I don't think KH was in it enough though this week. Surely the pull for viewers is Keeley, not Aiden whatshisface. Keeley has done most of the press for this show but Aiden seems to get much more screen time. And what were those slow-mo moments at the start with Bloom? Has he some psychic powers like Angela Lansbury, that he only has to look at a scarf and he knows it was Miss Scarlet in the ballroom with the candlestick.

[Nia M]

No, I don't think she's been in it enough at all. It was sold as having Aiden and her in the front seats, not Aiden with her a couple of rows behind. And for the team leader, she doesn't seem to be doing much leading either - it's been Aiden who's been getting all the screen-time and the action, while she waltzes around in a tight skirt. I really hope Martha gets more prominent in later episodes (and by that I mean the next one), or I'm going to lose faith I feel rather sorry for Keeley actuall because, as you say, she's been doing most of the publicity, but it's not her character that's getting the attention.

I missed the first 20 minutes, so I don't know what you mean by the slo-mo shots.