Review
Guardian, 19.02.03


If rumours are to be believed, there is no place at all for Buried in the Channel 4 schedules. After disappointing ratings, a second series is unlikely to be commissioned, and you can't really blame them, of course. why would a channel - whose boss has criticised other people's drama as "humdrum and formulaic" - want one as brilliantly acted, as sharply written, as difficult and intense as this? Especially when there's the tantalising prospect of late-night specials of Hollyoaks.

In the shadows, both actual and moral, of HMP Mandrake, Jane Hazlegrove gave a blistering performance as DD, the central figure in a bleak, honest and often darkly humourous story of victimhood, violence and things people do to get by. In a series with the fingerprints of Tony Garnett upon it, you expect the norm to be outstanding (unless you're thinking of Attachments), but Buried is exactly the kind of thing "Britain's most innovative broadcaster" should be championing. And not in a 10.35pm slot.

"Why are you always trying to make things better?" asked Keach (Mark Womack) of Nick Vaughan (Stephen Walters). "Things are shit." If Buried does get buried, they'll get a lot worse. It's the only truly creative, risky thing in Channel 4's Tuesday night arsenal, and they're attempting a decommissioning.