so_cold Based on Jake Arnott's book of the same name. The TV series of the long firm is an asset to any DVD collection. It follows the story of Harry Starks, the temperamental club owner trying to make it big in the sixties, but he's well ahead of his time. His up's and downs are shown through his friends and acquaintances. Teddy, who Harry helps out of a Jam but he wants something in return, Ruby, who's husband goes to prison, but finds solace with Harry's down-trodden, confused boyfriend Tommy. There's also Jimmy's story ,a dealer who can't get over his wife's death and helps Harry solve a mystery, and Lenny, who finds himself teaching Harry all he knows, and ends up with nothing as a result.All the cast are terrific in their roles, especially Mark Strong as Harry starks. He can be friendly yet menacing, manipulative but careless, destructive but fragile all at the same time. There's also a scene with Harry and his father that's complete scene stealer. Each episode is unmissable.

rangert4 Have you ever wanted to lead a politician around by the nose and have the upper crust of society come to your place for drinks? Have you ever wanted to tell your father to sit down and be nice to the rest of the family? Have you ever wanted to control a beautiful woman of undeniable attraction? Have you ever wanted to kick the crap out of someone that did you or one of your friend's wrong? Have you ever wanted to hunt down and destroy someone that did you or a close friend a deep injustice? Then you'll know exactly what kind of person Harry Starks really is and where he fits into society. Harry is you. Harry is me. Harry is the meanest and yet the meekest member of society. Harry is truly a person of myth and legend. Harry is the person you most want to be and yet the person you fear the most. If you are his friend, then he is the best friend in the world. If you are his enemy, then you really have no friends in the world. You either have to love Harry with all your heart or hate him for the gangster he is. This is a truly wonderful, exciting TV series and I hope that you will watch it to find out if you love Harry or hate him.

gray4 A fascinating four-parter, centred on London gangland boss Harry Starks, and starting in the 1960s. The episodes are uneven, and occasionally implausible, but the series is made unmissable by the looming presence of Mark Strong. He is more than a scary thug, though he is terrifying in that role. At times he is stoical, and even tender, so that you can even feel sorry for him. He is countered by Derek Jacobi as a corrupt peer, drawn into Harry's half-baked schemes, with a splendid cameo by Phil Daniels as pathetic drug-dealer.The London and Essex settings are excellent, capturing perfectly the glamour and seediness of '60s clubland. When Harry goes further afield, to Nigeria and then Spain, it is a lot less convincing. But overall a great series, well worth looking out for.

LewisJForce I tuned in to 'The Long Firm'" with high hopes. A modern historical drama starring the excellent Mark Strong looked promising, bringing to mind memories of 'Our friends in the north' - one of the best TV dramas of the past 20 years. Having now seen the fourth and final episode, I have to say that, although it was entertaining and extremely well-made, I was more than a little disappointed.I am loathe to criticise ambitious drama like this in the light of the soapy dreck that constitutes the vast majority of British televisual output. However, 'The Long Firm' promised more than it delivered. And its faults lay firmly with the writing.Each episode used a different narrator to relay details of their associations with the main character, London gangster Harry Starks. The technique proved clumsy, with the voice-overs unsubtle and unenlightening. Why employ such a method if ultimately the insights are all the same? More friction needed to exist between what we saw and what we heard for it to work. Like too much modern drama, the approach didn't transcend its stylistic facility.In the same vein, character development and the attendant psychological underpinnings (e.g. gangster as thwarted celebrity/entertainer) were clichéd and overly familiar. The final episode, in particular, was embarrassingly heavy-handed in its satire of the counter-culture and academia. In general there was too much pastiche and caricature to allow real interest. Any emotional impact generated by these people was purely down to the skill of the actors and the director. Also, I haven't read the source novel by Jake Arnott, but I am presuming that it made a more profitable and resonant use of the metaphorical title. Here, it was explained briefly in episode one and then thrown away.Ultimately, each episode proved highly watchable but somehow unsatisfying, leaving this viewer to assume that we were building to some revelation/twist/new insight that never came, the screenwriter happy to fashion the piece into little more than a summation of period iconography/psychology.There was much to enjoy, though. The piece was extremely well-cast, mixing a few expected-but-impressive veterans with a lot of talented but lesser-known faces. Mark Strong proved to be a commanding linchpin as Starks, bringing charisma and nuance to the role. Also notable were Lena Headey's Ruby Ryder, the excellent George Costigan, and Shaun Dingwall as Harry's biographer. The period detail and mise en scene were nicely understated and entirely convincing, and there were nice, ballsy touches like the interpolation of footage from the 'Parkinson' show. Additionally there were a few welcome surprises on the contemporaneous soundtrack, such as Janice Nicholls' novelty hit 'I'll give it five'. Or 'Oi'll give eet foive!'.Perhaps I expected a little too much from this piece. I walked away reasonably entertained but with an air of opportunities unfulfilled.