The SECOND COMING

Return of the Divine?

Episode 1 - First broadcast 9th February 2003

Video store assistant Stephen Baxter goes missing on the Yorkshire moors for 40 days and nights. When he returns, he declares himself to be the second coming of the son of God. Before he can be locked away in an asylum, certain factions of the Vatican take an interest and he turns night into day at the local football stadium. With the world suddenly interested, he declares that Humanity must present him with a third testament in five days or Judgement Day will descend.

There are some lyrics is Jesus Christ Superstar that go along the lines of 'If you'd come today you could have reached the whole nation, Israel in 4BC had no mass communication'. Russell T Davies might have been inspired by those words to write the opening episode of this drama about the potential return of the Son of God to Earth. What would happen if a man declared himself to the be the second coming? He'd get himself locked up, of course. But what if he was able to prove it, or at least present some very compelling evidence? That's the meat of this, very meaty, story. The miracle in the football ground is seemingly undeniable, but at least one person points out they've seen popular illusionists levitate. Could an event that was witnessed from space by NASA and captured by so many independent witnesses and cameras really be dismissed.

The local police, as mystified as anyone else, take measures to contain the threat to the potential messiah. Their reaction, along with so many others, is confused and limited to what they know; a very plausible reaction. The reactions of those who knew Steve as he was are equally confused. Peter believes instantly upon seeing the miracle, how could he not? Judith, however, looks to distance herself from it, looking for alternative answers, fighting what she feels must be an inevitable conclusion, that Steve is who, and what, he claims to be.

And it is in the very reality of the reactions of those around Steve that the story finds its strength. TV clips show how the rest of the world is reacting to this potential miracle, and the subsequent announcement that the end of the world really is nigh, but the show is rooted in the personal stories of those at its centre, of Steve and his friends and family.

This is aided by a slew of good performances. At the heart of it all is Christopher Ecclestone, whose innate intensity is balanced by his ability to play goofy. Steve is not the brightest tool in the box, not the greatest communicator and so ordinary as to be a ridiculous choice for Messiah. Since absolute Divinity cannot fit within the human brain, he doesn't even know the details of the plan, can't answer many of the questions put to him and isn't able to heal the sick. There is just enough doubt played into the audience's mind as to whether he really is the Son of God to keep things interesting. Ecclestone is able to play with all that contradiction and come up with a likeable enough guy, whilst never quite convincing as God's envoy on Earth, which is the point.

And then there is Lesley Sharp as Judith. She is given the difficult task of embodying scepticism in the face of irrefutible evidence. Even when she is faced with demons out to upset God's plans as well as the miracle in the stadium, she remains surprisingly resistant to what is happening. This, though, is Lesley Sharp and she manages to pull it off.

Not everything in the episode is successful, however. The lack of officials grilling this new Messiah seems a bit unlikely. The Catholic Church is right there at the beginning thanks to a handy prophecy, but then seems to just vanish into the background having served it purpose. The crowd that shows up at the stadium seems strangely hostile for people who have answered Steve's call. The demand for a new testament without knowing where it is to come from is decidedly strange, though isn't that just like God, expecting the Plan to be carried out without telling us what that plan might be? These, though, are quibbles in a story that daringly throws some big ideas around, asks huge questions and doesn't seem to be in any hurry to answer them definitively. It's a fascinating concept and this first episode has set up a whole lot of threads to be woven together, hopefully, in the second.

Episode 2

Following events at the pub, Steve's family and friends move in with him at the fortified police station. When footage of him announcing that Judgement Day is coming if the third testament is not delivered leaks, the population go mad. The demons make their move against the Son of God and Judith comes to a conclusion.

The concluding half of the story doesn't hold together as well as the first half, failing to fulfil the promise of the first half. Everything seems a little half-baked. The focus on the small circle of people most affected whilst limiting access to bigger picture that worked so well in the first half is less-balanced and restricts the impact of much of the story. We're told that the populace is running for the hills and we see the city empty of people, but there is no sense to this. A global apocalypse is global and not purely urban. Even with the end of the world at stake, nobody in any authority comes to challenge Steve, or plead with him, or try to negotiate, but there is time for an argument between friends and a quick bunk up. Judith, especially, is forced to go through so many mood changes in such a short time that even Lesley Sharp can't smooth it all out. Her final revelation as to how matters will be resolved comes out of nowhere.

The demonic plan is revealed and is more twisted and interesting than might have been suspected. Even so, Mark Benson's Johnny Tyler is possibly the least dangerous seeming devil of all time. Their initial move on Steve's life and the subsequent move on his forgotten friend seem rushed, whilst the walk through the empty city to the last supper is somewhat overextended.

There are some big ideas still in play, not least the denouement, but the coda tacked on at the end misfires.

SPOILERY BIT - don't read beyond this point if you haven't seen the show and don't know how it ends.

For a story that has focused so much on faith, the end argument and outcome are based on a heavy dump of story logic that doesn't necessarily stack up. Judith delivers her third testament, which is that the Human Race would do so much better if there was no God, Devil, the whole thing. Steve then eats her rat poison-laced spaghetti and God dies. It's a clever way out from the armageddon, but the idea that Humanity would turn away from religion just because God is dead doesn't necessarily ring true. Considering what we have all learned regarding the Catholic Church (mentioned in the first episode) and televangelists and every other strain of religion, the fact that many people still continue to believe in, and cling to, those institutions suggests that killing God just as everyone has proof of his existence would be a cruel and pointless exercise. The people would just look elsewhere. The idea that the removal of religion is alll that is needed to allow the Human Race to find its destiny is a stretch at the very least and an odd conclusion to place on a show that has been all about the effects of the certainty that God exists.

Despite the uneven second half, THE SECOND COMING is a bold and interesting project that plays with big subjects and doesn't shy away from potentially offending a lot of people. There's not a lot of that in television at the best of times.