Quite Ugly One Morning (Jack Parlabane)

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Midnight” is a song about finding a love that is so true that it provides a calming feeling through every storm. Ed Sheeran reflects on his good fortunes in landing someone with such peace and support and speaks of not fearing the dark days because he knows they’ll all end in the safety nets of her arms. There are risks he can take without jeopardizing his plans. He can afford to play cat-and-mouse with the female cop who's on his tail; it might even arguably be necessary.

James Nesbitt is a journalist who wakes up in his Edinburgh flat to find one of his neighbours has been murdered. Nesbitt and the rest of an interesting cast try their best but the script is not quite up to it. There are some genuinely funny moments here and there and it gets an extra half point for good use of Edinburgh locations.Meanwhile, Detective Superintendent and mother-of-two Catherine McLeod is called to the scene of a murder in the Highlands. Following a theatrical outdoor performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Cragruthes Castle, a prominent figure in the Scottish arts community is shot dead during a post-performance photo call. With her initial leads turning out to be red herrings, McLeod struggles to determine the killer’s motive. Nesbitt is probably the best thing in this show - and even he doesn't quite fit. How anyone can read the book, and then adapt it to this piece of dross is beyond me.

All the characters in this story are interesting, even the bad guy, who you really can't wait to see get his comeuppance. The pacing of the story keeps you guessing, but gets you to the end at a gallop. Quite Ugly One Morning is a comically dark, sometimes quite gory, often very witty look at what happens when medicine, politics and greed get too friendly with each other. It features strong protagonists who don’t take themselves overly seriously, and it offers some thoughtful social commentary in the midst of it all.

Born on 6 September 1968, Chris Brookmyre is a Scottish author whose blend of politics, comedy, actions and social comments have in turn led him to be referred to as the pattern noir author. Despite the fact that Christ Brookmyre was born in Glasgow, he was raised in the town of Barrhead. After completing his primary school education at St. Luke’s High School, Brookmyre was admitted to St. Luke’s High School and then, later on, joined Glasgow University. Ever since he was young, Chris Brookmyre has always been an ardent supporter of St. Mirren FC. Currently, Brookmyre is married to anesthetists, whom they have a son with. As a soccer fan, Chris Brookmyre has normally featured on SportScene a BBC result program that is normally aired during the soccer league.

What an absolute pile of pants. Having read Chris Brookmyre's books religiously since I came across "Quite Ugly...", I was delighted to find out that this drama had been commissioned. My TV guide listed this as a detective movie, which it isn't, really. It's just a light-hearted drama, that focuses more on the several sub-plots than on the main story. And there are quite some sub-plots. A clumsy assassin-subplot, an ex-girlfriend-subplot, even the cliché policewoman-falls-in-love-with-the-main-character-subplot. All across the USA, people are showing up dead. The deaths don't appear to be connected in any way until one particular death occurs and gets the Secretary of Defense's attention. He arranges for a task force to investigate.

Christopher Brookmyre is a Scottish novelist (fromGlasgow)whose novels mix politics, social comment and action with a strong narrative. He has been referred to as a Tartan Noir author. There are plenty of plot holes and references to events that must have wound up on the cutting room floor, with the effect that all in all it felt fairly anaemic.