Strange (BBC1)
Rescue Me (BBC1)
'Yes, I'm Strange," says the hero of this supernatural murder-mystery which has pilot for a new series written through it like Blackpool through a stick of rock.
John Strange is certainly a bit of an odd bod as portrayed by Richard Coyle, best known as the mad Welshman in the BBC2 comedy Coupling. He's a priest turned demon hunter who left the church under a cloud. Just don't call him defrocked. "No frocks were involved, except in the case of the archdeacon," he jests.
Strange is convinced demons are among us in human guise - and he's not just referring to the people who tread the corridors at the BBC. The clues are there. Non-stop thunder and lightning, dark rooms and creepy crypts in what even Canon Black describes as a "godforsaken parish". And don't forget the unfortunate priest who ends up crisper than an overdone joint while lying innocently in a hospital bed. Luckily, nurse Jude Atkins (Samantha Janus) is on duty. She's no ordinary nurse but one with a degree in applied physics, a talent that comes in handy once the devil rides out.
Strange comes equipped with a frightening haircut (although not as scary as Daniela Nardini's in Outside The Rules) and several helpers.
But what are we to make of Ian Richardson, shamelessly stealing every scene as the hooded Canon Black. "You look like death," someone tells him.
"None of us is getting any younger," he replies in a deadpan manner.
The BBC has been talking about making a spin-off from US supernatural series Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Until that happens, and to plug the gap once The X Files ends, Strange will do very nicely. Andrew Marshall's script is a neat blend of the spooky and the quirky.
A supernatural series would make a change from the medical and police stories that proliferate on our screens. Rescue Me, too, looked like it might be different, in a Cold Feet and Ally McBeal kind of way, although the first episode divided audiences between those who found heroine Katie endearing (men) and those who found her irritating (women).
By the end of the second part I was losing sympathy with her and feeling sorry for big boy Eddie. He was trying to lose weight, well aware that when people saw his figure it reminded them that "I must get my tyres checked".
Meanwhile, Luke and Alice were trying to get the morning after pill after a condom split during sex. The doctor wondered if Luke knew how to put on a condom. "With my eyes closed," he boasted.
"Maybe that's where you're going wrong," observed the doctor
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