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Tag: crime

California, 1939. A young couple sail off the coast on board the yacht Indigo. We don’t know much about them, but soon realise things aren’t quite as they seem. The yacht isn’t theirs. Something’s happened to the previous owners, but even this isn’t clear. There’s a sinister element at play, an undercurrent that drives the couple away from their troubled…

Heart of a Murderer

Neville Heath was an ex-RAF pilot who murdered a part-time actress in a London hotel room then went on the run, sparking the biggest manhunt in British history. A charming and extremely plausible psychopath who talked his way into all levels of British society, Heath left an indelible impression on the public psyche. After booking in to the Tollard Royal Hotel…

Raindance – In at the deep end!

For the shy and retiring among us the thought of pitching a screenplay to a panel of movie experts and a live audience would be horrifying. But that’s exactly what this humble narrator did in London recently, and this is a brief account of what happened …. Armed with my carefully constructed wording, I made my way to the The…

A service station in Utah County

On the morning of 17th January 1977, Gary Gilmore was strapped to a chair in Utah State Prison, a black hood placed over his head, before being executed by firing squad. Such was the notoriety surrounding the event, and Gilmore’s troubled personality, that singer Johnny Cash reportedly sang to him over the phone the night before. The crimes – the killing…

Blinkered

Shekhar Kapur’s film Elizabeth, starring the hugely talented Cate Blanchett, opens with the burning of three heretics at the stake. As the woodpile is lit beneath them, a religious dignitary expresses his token wish that they burn in hell forever, a sentiment shared by many in the gloating crowd. Scenes such as this were commonplace in 16th century England and much of Europe, as…

Bada Bing!

Grown men don’t wade into swimming pools, wearing dressing-gowns, chasing ducks. Well, not unless they’re psychologically disturbed mob bosses searching for meaning in a dangerous world. HBO’s award-winning The Sopranos is a Masterclass in virtuoso performance, with only a hint at the outset of the drama to come. From the opening titles and the mesmeric theme tune, we’re hooked. Who can this gentle soul be? Cigar in one…

Mining gems from the Cesspool

Writing is perhaps the most beguiling of art forms. In fiction, for instance, we tend to avoid the more unpalatable facts of our existence and settle for a glossy approximation instead. We allude to these depths without being too explicit. And with good reason. Think what goes through your mind in an average twenty-four hour cycle. Would you really want this carnage imposed on your readers?  The…