“The
brand new, gripping BBC drama What Remains is a dark and riveting
four-part series with a surprising twist
that is now available on DVD and just
gets better as it goes along...”
DISCOVERING A LEAK IN THE CEILING of the flat they are moving into, heavily
pregnant Vidya Khan (Amber Rose Revah: The Devil's Double) and her boyfriend
Michael Jensen (Russell Tovey: Him & Her) find the mummified body of
a young woman in the loft.
With the arrival of the Police, including Detective Inspector Len Harper (David
Threlfall in his first major role since Shameless) and DS Alice Yapp
(Lisa Millett), the body is confirmed to be that of Melissa Young (empathetically
played by Jessica Gunning). The overweight, reserved and depressed young woman
who used to live in the flat above at number 5 had mysteriously disappeared
two years before.
“What Remains has
intriguing twists and is a
compelling, exciting
and fascinating mystery
tale of a tragedy that,
initially, does not appear
to touch other people’s
lives...”
Nobody
seems interested in finding out what happened to Melissa. While searching her
flat, Harper comes to the conclusion that it is unusual for a young woman not
to have a mobile phone and a computer, but they can find no trace of them. Nobody
has reported her missing and nobody has noted her absence.
Harper questions the edgy Joe Sellers (David Bamber: Psychoville), an
authoritarian teacher who has lived in the basement for 15 years and ensures
everyone lives by the rules, and who holds the spare keys to all the flats.
He claims to live alone but is hiding something.
A same-sex couple, the self-serving and icy Elaine Markham (Indira Varma: Rome)
— who openly despised Melissa — and her much milder
partner Peggy Scott (Victoria Hamilton), find their business and their relationship
is threatened by the discovery of the body.
Divorced Newspaper Editor Kieron Moss (Steven Mackintosh: Luther), an
ex-alcoholic and former crime correspondent who lives in Flat 2, seems to know
more than he will admit. His girlfriend Patricia (Claudie Blakley: Lark Rise
To Candleford) is concerned when he refuses to allow her to investigate
the case when it could be front page news if it turns out to be a murder. And
then there's Kieron's spoilt, cocky, bigoted and thoroughly obnoxious son Adam
(Alexander Arnold), who is openly contemptuous of Melissa.
D I Harper is about to retire from the Force and his gut feeling tells him that
this young woman was likely to have been murdered, rather than the conclusion
of suicide that was reached as a result of the body being too decomposed to
show evidence.
With his retirement and discovering that the case had been handed over to Uniform,
Harper decides to investigate the case himself helped by Vidya, who has already
generated a lead with her computer skills.
The former owner of Flat 4, Richard Webb (Michael Colgan) has moved to Canada
and when Harper contacts him via Skype he learns that Joe stopped everyone going
into the attic. He says that Melissa was a lovely girl but a loner.
Somebody is clearly trying to stop Harper's investigations and he is attacked
while searching Melissa's flat. Who is the unknown assailant? Did something
seemingly trivial get out of hand? Who is the young woman Michael sees at Joe's
flat?
Gradually the guilty secrets of the flat-owners are revealed, but not before
Vidya finds herself in terrible danger, with her life and that of her child
at risk.
With an unusual double twist and a couple of red herrings, writer Tony Basgallop
looks at how things in life can easily become unravelled. "At its core, this
is an ensemble piece about the spaces we share, the compromises we make and
the unwritten rules of communal living," he comments.
Told with a series of flashbacks to Melissa's dealings with her neighbours,
What Remains has intriguing twists and is a compelling, exciting and fascinating
mystery tale of a tragedy that, initially, does not appear to touch other people's
lives.
What Remains also features: Denise Gough (Robin Hood) as Liz Fletcher;
Terence Beesly as DCI Burrows; Daniel Godward as Jerry Harper; Martha Mackintosh
as Peri; Paul Chahidi as Bill Halcombe; and Ziggy Heath as Alex Harper.
Composer is Harry Escoll; Director of Photography is Zac Nicholson; Writer is
Tony Basgaller; Producer is Grainne Marmion; and Director is Coky Giedroyc.
*
Following its run on BBC1, the gripping four-part BBC drama What Remains
is released on DVD from Acorn Media on 7 October 2013. Running Time: 240 Minutes
Approximately on 2 discs | Catalogue Number: AV3132 | RRP: £19.99.
"What Remains has intriguing twists and is a compelling, exciting and
fascinating mystery tale of a tragedy that, initially, does not appear to touch
other people's lives" —Maggie Woods
"A gripping mystery, shot through with an unsettling stillness ****"
—Daily Telegraph
"What Remains breathes new life into cop drama clichés" —The Guardian
“The
brand new, gripping BBC drama