SAFE

UK, 2018, 8X 55, Colour.

Michael C.Hall, Amy James- Kelly, Amanda Abington, Freddie Thorpe, Marc Warren, Louis Greaterorex, Hannah Arteton, Isabel Allen, India Fowler, Raj Paul, Joplin Sibtain, Nigel Lindsay, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Katie Carmichael, Audrey Fleurot.

Directed by Julia Ford, Daniel O 'Hara, Daniel Nettheim.

Harlan Coben is one of the most popular American crime writers. He has been publishing novels since 1991. His novel, Tell No One, was adapted for the screen, the action transferred to France.

In recent years, there have been quite a number of miniseries adaptations of Harlan Coben novels. Interestingly, they have not been made in the United States. Harlan Coben each series himself has acted as one of the executive producers of each series. They are adaptations of stand alone novels although one in production, is an adaptation of one of his Myron Bolitar stories  Stay Close.

Devotees of the novels will have no difficulty in enjoying the series.

Safe has a British setting, a provincial city. As with other Harlan Coburn stories, the central character is a middle-aged man obsessed with the quest (The Stranger and a search for a lost wife, The Woods and the search for a lost sister). Here he is played by Dexter’s Michael C.Hall, obsessed with the disappearance of his daughter. Is a successful surgeon, living in a gated community, working with a friend from his student days, played by Marc Warren, who helps him in his search.

In a way, the action is quite localised, within the gated community in the homes of various members. There is also a club, Heaven, and its suspicious proprietor. There is also the indication of a mental institution.

As, with The Woods, there is a focus on teenagers, school, parties and celebrations, sex and drugs. And the sequences recur throughout the series. But, as revealed quite late in the series, but like The Woods, there is criminal activity from the past. And, the surgeon daughter discovers something of this and pursues her investigations.

Of course, there are various interested parties, individuals who want the past to be kept secret – leading to murders, fires, confrontations.

Which means that there are quite a lot of interesting character actors, especially the family where the body of the murdered young man is found in their pool and who try to cover up. There is another family where the wife is a teacher at school, accused of having an affair with a student, the mother of the dead young man.

And, there is the local detective, in a relationship with the surgeon, pursuing the leads with efficiency, getting a young detective as her assistant (who has her own story and some surprising revelations before the end).

For those who like tracking Harlan Coben’s plots and clues, the revelation of Safe is somewhat parallel to the solution of The Stranger.

Directors are Dennis O’Hara and Daniel Nettheim have been involved in several Harlan Coben series.

1. The adaptation of a Harlan Coben novel? British setting? Characters?
2. The effect of the miniseries, the eight episodes, exposition, situations, mystery, plots and subplots, intertwining, suspense, resolution?
3. The setting of the British country city? Location photography, the streets, shops, churches? Police precincts? Homes, school? The countryside at night, during the day?
4. The title? The father-daughter relationship? Complexities?
5. The city, suburbs, homes, the gated precinct, neighbours living close, beyond the precinct? The club, school, police precincts? The world of doctors? Youth?
6. Tom Delaney, doctor, age and experience, relationship with Rachel, their past, her illness, absent from her death, with Sophie? Jenny and the blame? Jenny’s disappearance, intense search, phone leads, the visit to the railway, the club, Heaven, the confrontation with Bob? Greater aggression? The relationship with Sophie continuing? Working with Pete, their long friendship, his help? Interviewing the young boys, the drugs, Pete being shot, in hospital, the revelation about his daughter and Tom knowing? Helen next door and the mystery? The note about Jasmine? Going to the institution, the intrusion, excluded? Going to the help Centre where Rachel worked? The young boy and following him? Eric and his place in the gated community?
7. Sophie, relationship with Josh, separation, his living in the trailer in the grounds? Care for Henry, his illness? Her daughter, the bond with Tom’s daughter? Staying over? Her work with the police, investigations, her partners, working with Emma, the tension between them? The interrogations, the search for the body and its discovery, the clue with the family, interrogation, taking them in? The issue of Zoe and the complaints by the school principal? Having to communicate Chris’s death to his parents?
8. The Marshall family, Jo Jo and his bravado, timid wife, the daughter, age, school, selling drugs, hosting the party, the phone call to her parents, discovering the body in the pool, disposing of the body, the freezer, the neighbour seeing the body, her hitting him over the head, the threats as a pervert, their being arrested, the father confessing, the times inaccurate, further charges, the release, the daughter, the jewellery box, the pendant, the revelation?
9. Chris, at school, partying, drugs? Clash with his father, relationship with his mother? The demanding father? Zoe, at school, the accusations, the images, the suspects, in fact her relationship with one of the students, the confession by her husband that he planted the material? The news of Chris’s death? The memorial on the lawn? Jenny watching in secret? The consequences for the family, the daughter, husband and wife coming together?
10. Pete, personality, doctor, friendship, gay, helping Tom, the blackmail episode, the drug dealers, his being shot, hospital, the encounter with Emma, her approaching him, her story, the truth? His pride in having a daughter?
11. Emma, her story, pregnant, the death of her partner, reconciliation with her father, with Henry, the clashes with Sophie, the interview, his turn, going to hospital?
12. Craig, in the Jasmine Institute, Eric as his father, the visits to Bobby? The truth?
13. Bobby, Heaven, his staff, fear of him, his lies to Tom, going to Helen, murdering her, the house on fire? Wanting the tape? Jenny’s approach to him, sheltering her, the threats?
14. The story from the past, the flashbacks, the revelation, the children, against the teacher, mischievous, the fire, the tape? Helen keeping the tape? Jenny staying with her? The fire? Bobby, the buildup to the confrontation, his suicide?
15. Rachel, the truth, confiding to Jenny, wanting to tell her husband?
16. Tom, the reconciliation with Jenny?
17. The truth, Sophie, her motivations, murdering Chris, going to prison, the recapitulation of her behaviour and her crime?