The Ice Cream Girls

So a few weeks ago I somehow ended watching the first episode of ITV’s three-part miniseries The Ice Cream Girls. Based on a book of the same name the series tells the story of two girls. One has just been released from prison after serving a very long sentence for a murder that she maintains was not her. The other has built herself a family and lives to keep it together but when she moves back to her home town to look after her mother it brings back her dark past. It is gradually revealed that both girls got involved with an abusive older man, he was the teacher of one of them. This bloke plays them off against one another and forces them to do things against their will, their relationships become more and more volatile until this bloke ends up murdered. Then Poppy, one of the girls, takes the blame for the killing when it comes to court and is locked up while the other girl is left to roam free. The show holds the mystery as to who did the actual killing until the very last episode.

It’s a shame that they don’t manage to fully utilise the tension of the story. While the acting of the show was very well done and the final reveal is fittingly surprising for me the show didn’t work as a whole. The characters are to built up enough and, in particular, Poppy’s motivation and generally what makes her character tick is never touched upon, its left to you as the viewer to figure out which asks too much of you. The detestable male character is very well portrayed by Martin Compston with his sickly grin and well placed outbursts, it shows that Compston is a well-established actor to keep an eye on, but when it comes to his killing everything seems off key. That’s the whole thing about this miniseries, really, is that it just doesn’t feel quite right. It partly wants to be a mystery, it partly wants to be a tragedy but never delivers fully on either front and it loses its thrill as a result. Also while the twist is surprising it doesn’t make any real sense with the way you’ve got to know the characters.

While for ITV this was one of the better drama series I’ve seen when you compare it with the things that BBC and Channel 4 are bringing out its clear that ITV have got a fair bit of work to do before they can reach the standard. Having said that I still need to watch Broadchurch which could prove me completely wrong.