McDonald And Dodds
Homeland
Rating: 
According to Father Ronald Knox, the priest and writer of detective novels 100 years ago, a sidekick in crime stories is bound by strict rules.
Knox calls him ‘the stupid friend’, and says: ‘His intelligence must be slightly, but very slightly, below that of the average reader.’
Yes, Doctor Watson and Sergeant Lewis, we are talking about you.
McDonald And Dodds (ITV) takes Knox’s law and turns it inside out. This show is all about the sidekick, Sgt Dodds, a man so diffident that he doesn’t even have a first name.
Jason Watkins (pictured) seizes his role with relish in ITV’s McDonald and Dodds. It’s the sort of part he does to perfection — an odd, awkward, craven, brilliant man. He is photographed with co-star Tala Gouveia
Jason Watkins, who has repeatedly astonished viewers in dramas such as Line Of Duty and The Lost Honour Of Christopher Jefferies, seizes the role with relish. It’s the sort of part he does to perfection — an odd, awkward, craven, brilliant man who (‘Sorry, ma’am’) can’t stop apologising.
Dodds has the hawkish eye of a Holmes and the rational mind of a Morse. One glance at the dry floor of a hallway after a break-in and he was half-way to solving a murder.
Dodds (pictured) has the hawkish eye of a Holmes and the rational mind of a Morse – and one of his great strengths as a detective is that people barely notice him (pictured)
But he’s so obsequious it’s almost creepy, and he has some revolting personal habits… such as dipping his chips in butter.
Hoping to freeze him out, his colleagues stick his desk under the office air vent. Dodds doesn’t take the hint — he just wears a hat and scarf indoors. He’s a marvellous character, one who promises to be fascinating as we discover more about him.
One of his great strengths as a detective is that people barely notice him: in fact, the working title of the show was ‘Invisible’.
Three episodes into Homeland’s final season, it is a rich whirl of betrayal and lies, with a few punishment beatings thrown in. Pictured is Claire Danes looking lost in thought in the second episode, titled Catch and Release
The other half of the duo, DCI Lauren McDonald (Tala Gouveia), is less intriguing. Her job is simply to be the opposite of Dodds: assertive, professional and unimaginative.
She’s the ambitious career detective, not afraid to tread on a few toes, etc., etc. So far, the most interesting thing about her is the hint of a damaged love life — her current boyfriend is thick as treacle, she says, but at least he’s not unfaithful.
More entertaining is the vain Chief Super (James Murray), a man who wears his uniform like a body stocking … tight in all the strangest places. The backdrop of Bath looks striking, too: this is the city as the Jane Austen guidebooks would like you to imagine it always looks.
Robert Lindsay played the villain, an inventor who made his fortune in household gadgets, including vacuum cleaners. (Let’s hope that James Dyson’s libel lawyers have a sense of humour.)
For some reason, the plot spelled out from the start that Lindsay’s character was behind the murder.
That spoiled the suspense but maybe, if the sidekick is a genius, it’s now our job to be slightly stupider than average.
No one could accuse Homeland (C4) of spelling out its plot. Three episodes into its final season, it is a rich whirl of betrayal and lies, with a few punishment beatings thrown in.
CIA maverick Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes) set off to meet a Russian spook. She didn’t want to be recognised, so she wore the famous Carrie Disguise — a brunette wig.
No matter how often she loses her medication or gets kidnapped, she’s always got that hairpiece in her handbag.
Saul (Mandy Patinkin) took a rifle butt full in the face, but luckily his beard absorbed the force of the blow. Radio expert Max (Maury Sterling) didn’t get off so lightly.
It appears the entire U.S. Marine Corps harbours the superstitious belief that rubbing Max’s tummy fends off all danger in battle. Max doesn’t like this much. Perhaps he’s ticklish.