Secret life (From The Northern Echo)

Secret life

4:00pm Monday 9th January 2012 in Tonight's TV By Steve Pratt

Above Suspicion (ITV1, 9pm)
The Great Train Robbery’s Missing Mastermind? (C4, 8pm)
Playing It Straight (E4, 9pm)

ANOTHER year, another new drama from Lynda La Plante. When it comes to writers, she must be one of the most prolific working on British TV today.

Okay, so it isn’t entirely new. This is the fourth time we’ve seen Anna Travis (Kelly Reilly), the rookie detective at the heart of Above Suspicion, but it’s a fresh case for her. It’s also adapted from one of La Plante’s novels by the author.

This story, which has the subtitle of Silent Scream, focuses on Amanda Delany, a British actress who has Hollywood eating out of the palm of her hand.

Unlike many camera-shy stars, she can’t get enough of the spotlight, and her tendency to leap into bed with a string of hot co-stars means she’s never out of the headlines for long.

However, she makes the news for all the wrong reasons when, one morning, she’s discovered dead, having been murdered in her own home after returning late from a night on the town.

Travis and her tough boss, Detective Chief Superintendent Langton (Ciaran Hinds), are called in to investigate, and they uncover a tragic story that suggests that Amanda wasn’t really as glamorous as she seemed, but was, in fact, a lonely and damaged young woman. But which of her acquaintances wanted her dead?

“Amanda is a confused young woman whose past abuse is a constant legacy of deep-rooted anger,” says La Plante. “The relief from her tormented childhood does not disappear with this new found fame, but instead becomes a cancer of bitterness.

“She’s clearly on track to self-destruct, badly in need of help, but surrounded by sycophants, and parents who have their own agenda. It’s almost as if they feed off her anguish.”

The disturbing thing about the plot is that it was inspired by the problems faced by several real-life stars. “I started to research Silent Scream after reading about the suicide of a top model,” explains La Plante.

“One moment she’d been the life and soul of a party, the next she had thrown herself to her death from a balcony. I began to collect all the references that focused on the decline of famous stars that would appear to ‘have it all’."

Alongside Reilly and Hinds are regulars Shaun Dingwall and Michelle Holmes, and unknowns such as Joanna Vanderham and Kate O’Flynn.

“It’s an ongoing pleasure to be able to cast unknowns, to be able to give them an opportunity to start off their careers,” reveals La Plante. “This new energy, alongside the continuation of the onscreen magic created by Kelly and Ciaran, provided us with a winning formula.

“Silent Scream brings to the TV some very new fresh faces, and I think they add to the underlying message of how very often fame hides tragedy.”

AUGUST 8, 1963 – the night Ronnie Biggs and co raided the Queen’s mail and seized a whopping haul of £2.6m.

Biggs consequently went on the run and lived as a fugitive for 36 years before returning to the UK to hand himself in.

However, one question still remains; who tipped off the thieves about the millions aboard the train? The Great Train Robbery’s Missing Mastermind? investigates.

While the main culprits were of course tracked down, there was never an insider found to be involved. However, investigative author Andrew Cook wants to prove otherwise.

In looking into confidential files, which were sealed for some 50 years, he reveals the hidden story of criminal “insiders”

thought to be behind the robbery and leaking sensitive information to the robbers.

PLAYING It Straight is a dating show with a twist, in which a bunch of men compete for a single woman’s affections.

The twist is that some of them are gay and if they can convince her they’re the man for her, stand to win £50,000.

Presenter Jameela Jamil says: “It’s such a guilty pleasure show; the type that will have everyone talking over the water cooler the next day at work. I consider myself to have quite a finely tuned gaydar, and I was rubbish. It’s so well-cast.

“I wasn’t told anything because my reactions wouldn’t have been genuine.

“I have absolutely no poker face.”

The whole thing is set in Barcelona, so we’ll get some much-needed sunshine thrown in for good measure.