MAYDAY

Written By: Ben Court & Caroline Ip

Year of Release: 2013

This 5-part BBC television series, which first aired in the UK in March 2013, is one of my favourites of all Aidan’s projects.  Best described as a mystery thriller with added paganism, the story is set in a close-knit English village, and begins with14-year-old May queen, Hattie Sutton, going missing just before the annual May Day parade. The setting has a slightly otherworldly atmosphere which adds to the tension, and the twists and turns in the story you will keep guessing to the very end.

This is very much an ensemble piece featuring some great British actors such as Lesley Manville, Peter Firth and Sophie Okonedo. Aidan plays Everett Newcombe, a widower whose teenage son, Linus, who forms a relationship with Caitlin, the twin sister of the missing girl, who just happens to live next door.  Everett is a loner with a past, which is hinted at but isn’t fully explored, the circumstances of his wife’s death have a deep effect on his relationship with his son. To say any more would be to spoil the story, but secrets are exposed and the relationship between father and son is stretched to the limit.

The tension builds nicely, as characters go to some dark places, with suspicion as to what has happened to Hattie, and who is involved in her disappearance, falling on several members of the community at various times. Everyone has a motive and a secret, and nothing is as it first appears.

I love this for two reasons, the suspenseful storytelling which leaves you gripped throughout and, it brings out the fangirl in me as Aidan just looks gorgeous in this.  As I have said, this is an ensemble piece, so Aidan doesn’t get a large amount of screen time (although he is in each of the five episodes), but his character is pivotal to the storyline. Everett is a complex character, something of a ‘ladies’ man’ with a dark side and a secret which isn’t revealed until towards the end of the series. As with many of Aidan’s character there is a charm to Everett, but he also had a dark side, although at heart he appears to a good man who has been driven to a dark place by circumstances beyond his control.  The relationship between Everett and his son is nicely played out, and the feeling of isolation they both feel within the community is nicely explored.

As ever, Aidan is reunited here with actors he has worked with before, this time it is Tom Fisher who plays Tom in Treacle Jnr and Artie Doyle in Shanghai Knights, here, ironically, he plays Seth Doyle, one of the men under suspicion after Hattie’s disappearance.

Mayday is in my top ten of Aidan projects to date, a gripping story, great cast and Aidan looking amazing – what more could you want!  It can be hard to get hold of, at the time of writing in the UK it is available on the amazon streaming service, copies of the DVD can be found for a reasonable price on EBAY.