A FORMER detective has revealed why soaps leave him ‘pulling his hair out’ with their dramatic crime storylines.
Former Met police detective Malcolm Davies now works as a police advisor on top crime series including The Bay.
Malcolm helps scriptwriters and show bosses strike the balance between what happens in real life police investigations and what makes a good, gripping watch for viewers.
While he thinks British dramas – many of which are available on streaming services like BritBox – are nailing that balance, he doesn’t think the same can be said for our top soaps.
Speaking to The Celeb Report Online, Malcolm said: “I still sit there and think with things like Corrie and EastEnders, they do have advisors but there are certain things that happen in them that can be quite frustrating sometimes.
“Corrie has sort of got it right at the moment, without giving away my viewing habits but I haven’t watched EastEnders for years.
“But my colleague has and he’s just pulling what hair he’s got left out with some of the things they’ve run recently with the informant storyline.”
The BBC soap has seen Callum ‘Halfway’ Highway be tricked by his boss into going undercover to gather intel about boyfriend Ben Mitchell’s dad, Phil, only for the ploy to turn out to be a fake, leading to plenty of repercussions on both sides.
Malcolm admits its a fine line to walk between getting the realistic details of a police case or investigation into a storyline while also keeping it interesting for viewers.
He said: “I would say 70 per cent of the time in any investigations it’s boring and people don’t want to watch that, they want to watch the exciting stuff.
“We tread a fine line between drama and fact and sometimes we have to give way and compromise to certain things that [the writers] put in there for entertainment.”
That doesn’t mean Malcolm doesn’t spot any issues in dramas, with him adding: “You’re still getting dramas where the world in their mother is going into a crime scene where it should remain sterile.
“Then you get wardrobe, if there is a firearms officer outside, they just normally be in blue trousers and blue shirt. They put them in full tactical combat gear with the goggles and you’re like ‘What?!’”
A host of British crime dramas including The Bay, The Fall and Prime Suspect are available on BritBox as part of their ‘Crime Scene’ collection this February.
