Robert Carlyle (Stargate Universe, Full Monty, Trainspotting) was always Mr. Gold, even when he played Hamish Macbeth. In one of Carlyle’s early TV series, you see Gold’s savage hints in the small town protagonist. Normally I hate reading an actor’s contemporary performance through his earlier shows. However, I watched the mid-’90s TV series Hamish Macbeth before Once Upon a Time (OUaT) hit ABC’s airwaves. When OUAT premiered, I squeed in noticing similarities between Hamish’s intensity and Mr. Gold’s intimidation. This year I see more parallels between Gold’s love for Belle and Hamish’s love for Isobel. So, if you’re missing Once Upon a Time and love Robert like I do, consider giving HM a chance.

About the Series

M. C. Beaton’s Hamish Macbeth novel series follows un-ambitious constable Hamish Macbeth in the sleepy Scottish town of Lochdubh. He unfailingly investigates the darkest murders committed by/upon visitors/long-time residents when the strain/quirks of small town isolation overcomes them. The draw of the novel is the seeming placidity of the town contrasted with the utter savagery of the committed crimes.

Similar yet dissimilar, the 1995-1997 TV show stars Robert Carlyle and the amazing Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter, Bridget Jones’ Diary, everything awesome) as Isobel. Like the small town-centric mid-’90s-to-early-’00s BBC series Monarch of the Glen and Ballykissangel, Hamish Macbeth leans towards the lighter side of crime. While the novel surrounds the outer darkness that Hamish fights, the TV series follows the creeping hints of darkness within Hamish himself. Although I felt angry at the producers for stripping out the criminal harshness, Robert Carlyle’s Hamish Macbeth felt so dark, we almost needed a lighter weekly plot as balance.

In fact, Carlyle’s character, outside of his love interests and the father-brother team, is the main draw. After him, Shirley Henderson, as the passionate brunette journalist next door, Isobel, and Valerie Gogan, as the ravishing yet wealthy blonde Alex, stood out. Although their talents and their Betty and Veronica type relationship with Hamish solidified their characters, their alter-egos also had tenets in the original novel. Athough Hamish’s first love, I disliked TV Alex’s impetuous immaturity and her high school style relationship. While lacking Alex’s stunning looks, Hamish appeared more physically attracted to Isobel and as a partner she challenged him.

Once Upon a Time Parallels

As you can tell, there are already similarities between the two shows. Both surround isolated small towns that undergo weekly disturbances and end with the townspeople gathering together. Like Hamish, Mr. Gold is a community figure that wields influence (albeit an evil one). Both he and Hamish are go-to people when the town’s in trouble. And, yes, Alex, like Lacey, is the impetuous, lost, free spirit that Gold/Macbeth bides his time with until he can get his true librarian/journalist love, Belle/Isobel. Although Isobel’s his true heart’s desire, she and Hamish undergo a dance where they briefly reunite before parting under random misunderstandings. How did I not notice earlier both Gold and Macbeth love a woman named “Bel?”

However, if you loved Mr. Gold’s intensely protective desire for Belle and his quietly sinister demeanor, you’ll love Robert Carlyle’s subtle portrayal of Hamish Macbeth. What made me enjoy Hamish, his love for Isobel and his intense darkness, is what draws me to Mr. Gold. In OUaT’s season two finale, Gold’s anguished expression upon restoring Belle’s memory (“I just needed you”), totally reminded me of Macbeth’s amazing facial implosion in the Hamish Macbeth series finale (“We could’ve been at it”) when Isobel returns. On Carlyle’s sheer passion, intensity and tenderness … all I can say is RAWR!

Next, Gold’s underlying menace and overlying calm exterior scare the crap out of me. Likewise Macbeth is one crazy mother-effer. Half the time I freaked whenever he went into intense cop mode. When two drivers pulled a hit and run on his dog, Hamish tracks them to the forest to KILL them. That is some serious crazy-ass Mr. Gold shit. Seriously, you’re going to MURDER TWO HUMANS over a DOG?! In the end, they were criminals who didn’t do it on purpose. They just didn’t notice his tiny body when it ran into the road. Remember when Mr. Gold beat the crap out of any man that looked at Lacey? Well, if you liked that, you’ll enjoy Hamish Macbeth’s gangster stand-off. When an unarmed Macbeth confronts three armed mobsters that tracked Isobel and her friends, I seriously thought he planned on murdering all three and burying their corpses in the trees. He was SO INTENSE, I thought he could do it despite being outnumbered, outgunned and outmuscled. It’s the first time I started screaming at the criminals “RUN THE EFF AWAY!!! He’s going to KILL YOU!!!”  So, if you ever meet Robert Carlyle, don’t kick his dog or hit on his girl, ‘cus he will beat the eff outta you with his cane.

Final Thoughts

I’m not going to lie, the series is hokey. The earlier episodes aren’t as well-written as the later ones. Like OUaT, the show’s community-driven. However, the supporting villagers, excluding the McRae men, lack the strong personalities of OUaT’s Jiminy Crickett, Little Red Riding Hood, and Dwarf fellowship. If you’re a Beaton fan, keep in mind Beaton’s early novels didn’t feature fully solidified supporting characters. All the same, I don’t know why the HM producers created their own village characters which were watered down personalities (I STILL can’t remember the names of the tavern keepers, the schoolteacher, or the hot doctor). But, if you’re missing OUaT, love small town BBC mysteries, and have a crazy Robert Carlyle crush, then you might want to check out Hamish Macbeth, available on Netflix (or, possibly, your local library).

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I am seriously in love with Idris Elba. He is amazing as the titular character in BBC One’s Luther. Everything he does – his walk, talk, and mannerisms all portray the fragmented shell of a man desperate to hold onto a wife desperate to leave him; desperate to hold onto a tenuous sanity; and desperate to hold onto a job that represents all that’s familiar.

If you haven’t seen Luther, Elba plays brilliant serial killer investigator, John Luther. After not saving a child murderer (possibly deliberately), he mentally implodes, sequestering himself away for his safety, his family’s safety and his colleagues’ safety. Yet, when he returns, his wife reveals she moved on and his co-workers continuously watch him, fearing his fragile mentality and eggshell temper will erupt. Season one’s plots follow Luther post-suspension as he tracks cases of patricide, serial cop killing, taxi driver murderers and American gangs. For Luther, walking in the darkness means holding the darkness inside of you and hoping it doesn’t absorb those around you.

Idris Elba’s talent always impressed me. However, in Luther, he doesn’t just play a brilliant investigator, he inhabits Luther’s psyche through his crouching posture, his hyper-cheeky East London accent, his slouched body and his constantly mobile face. I totally believed a 6’2” well-muscled Idris Elba would fear a beatdown from a physically unimpressive would-be murderer. I loved watching Elba portray Luther’s tenuous mental stability which enabled Luther to understand the psychotic killer. Throughout the series, I couldn’t stop worrying about Luther’s safety or his career. He continuously attracts insanity, which others use against him. If serial killers didn’t destroy him, uber-aggressive internal affairs investigators would.

I also appreciated Luther’s relationship with his wife, Zoe (Indira Varma). Varma’s a hit or miss actress. In Human Target, she over-exaggerated her accent to hyper-posh levels while playing a milquetoast character. However, in Torchwood’s “They Keep Killing Susie,” I loved her utterly delicious insanity. Although she doesn’t reach Luther’s brilliance, she’s an amazingly sharp lawyer who’s fearless of the dark things in Luther’s life that go bump at her door. At the same time, I couldn’t understand her. She leaves Luther not because of his mental breakdown, not because she thinks he killed a killer (or cares), but because she hated when he shut her out. Um, Lady, your husband thinks he almost KILLED someone. His colleagues think he almost KILLED someone. And, possibly KILLING someone goes against his own moral and ethical code as a cop. OF COURSE, he’s going to mentally withdraw!!!

However, rather than possibly re-experience the relationship torture, she moves on … to Mark. This is where Zoe and I parted company. Her husband looks like well, IDRIS ELBA, who feels sorry for NOT KILLING a child murderer and is as BRILLIANT as Sherlock Holmes. But, instead of reuniting with him, she consistently turns back to … MARK, a pale, jealous, scrawny man who consistently claims that Luther’s lying and instigates unnecessary fights with him. Then, she wonders why Luther can’t move on. Um, HELLO, your husband can’t move on because when in sequestration you consistently promised his tortured mind a marital reunion!!!! So, YEA, it’ll take him a week to realize you totally dumped him for the Pillsbury not-dough boy.

Yet, outside of Luther’s ongoing Zoe angst, the relationship I truly loved included the bond between Luther and Ian. Ian was Luther’s dogsbody, his right hand dirty jobs man and his confidant. After Luther, Ian understood the criminal mind best. And, out of all his colleagues (and Zoe), he understood Luther. He didn’t shy away from the darkness beating within his best mate or the dark jobs Luther required to catch the latest serial killer. He’s frequently the one who talks Luther off the ledge — actual and metaphysical.

However, towards the series’ conclusion I started to wonder how much the producers HATED Ian or the actor, Steven Mackintosh. Ian wasn’t just a dirty cop. Ian didn’t just deliberately kill MULTIPLE people in cold blood; he killed his old partner in crime, killed his old partner’s boss, killed his current partner’s wife, tried to frame his current partner and then tortured the men who loved that woman with tales of her death. In the final two episodes, the worse Ian’s action grew the more I thought he must’ve kicked the producers’ puppies and pushed their kittens off a cliff. At the same time, I understood. Luther surrounds himself with insanity. Of course, the one most able to follow him unflinchingly into the darkness had already fallen.

Luther’s first season is amazing. Anyone with a brain should go out and watch it. Seasons one and two are available on Amazon’s Instant Video (free if you’re a prime member) as well as Netflix. Luther season three should return in the Fall.

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