DNA: Series 1, Episode 3 (2006)

 

First off, I should mention that this series is listed as Donovan on IMDb, but the actual episode I watched uses DNA.  Not sure where the name change comes from, if the series was renamed or called different things in different markets or what.  Either way, I’ll give you both in case anyone’s interested in seeking it out.

 

DNA is yet another crime show, heavy on the forensics with a medical bent.  This episode finds the team, led by the sometimes-eponymous Donovan, investigating the sick crew and passengers of a plane recently returned from Sudan.  It’s up to them to determine if the sickness is due to a virus (known or unknown,) some sort of biological weapon, or another source.  That the plane was transporting a war criminal on an extremely hush-hush basis further complicates matters.

 

PC plays Dr. Angus Baldwin, one of the plane’s passengers.  He, his wife, and another colleague have spent the last six months doing Doctors-Without-Borders-like work.  At the start of the episode, Angus is the one feverishly trying to tend to the crew and other passengers.  Once Donovan’s team is brought in, Angus is the most uncooperative of the quarantined, demanding to know what’s going on and urging Donovan to let them convalesce in a hospital instead of being held in an airplane hangar.

 

I’ll file this one under “fine performance in an unremarkable part.”  PC’s had many of these.  There’s some interesting background stuff for Angus – he’s been genuinely haunted by what he’s seen as a doctor in Sudan, and his best scenes address that.  The plot gets rather over-the-top at times, though, and Angus isn’t immune to the eye-rolling nature of it.

 

Lastly, I can’t quite fathom how freaky it would be to be in a biohazard suit.  To think that it’s the only thing separating you from a possible unknown contagion… yeesh.  Talk about spooky.

 

Accent Watch

 

Come on – have you ever encountered a character named Angus who wasn’t Scottish?

 

Recommend?

 

In General – I wouldn’t.  Granted, that’s my distaste for deadly-illness plots coming through, but it’s also a fairly middling investigative drama.

 

PC-wise – A mild “possibly.”  A few good scenes, a little questionable writing, and lots of shots in the middle of PC sweating in a hospital bed.

 

Warnings

 

Thematic elements and sexual references.  Also, be advised of some vomiting.