For years now, I have been receiving letters asking when, please, when, will there be a decent television drama about council reporters? Despite most - actually all - of these letters being completely imaginary, it goes to show just how high public support is for such as show.
Why?
Because no career is as honourable, while at the same time dynamic and debonair, as that of the council reporter.
Digging under the skin of local government, picking away at the scabs of falsehood and obfuscation and publishing the truth in black and white on page one - that is the calling of these saintly but deeply attractive men and women.
Certainly, standards have dropped recently.
The stunningly creative writers of the past, journalists whose copy made Shakespeare look like a tabloid hack, men who could add the most delicate, almost imperceptibly subtle hues as they coloured in the pageantry of debate about public toilets and wastewater infrastructure - they have gone.
But Exile, which started on UKTV last night, finally brings their high-flying, glamorous lifestyle to the increasingly expanding small screen.
The realities of a council reporter's life - the wild sex, the cocaine, the high stakes gamesmanship - it's all there in Exile.
Actor John Simm is our hero Tom.
Simm, of course, has starred in Doctor Who, was Sam Tyler in Life on Mars, and his films include Human Traffic and 24 Hour Party People.
Tom wanted to be a proper journalist - a council reporter - but ended up, in his own words, ''a hack'', working for a glossy magazine.
Oh, the shame, the shame.
From this career, though, he has developed a cocaine habit, bought a very fancy flat and a stunning sports car.
He returns to his northern home, where his sister is caring for his dad, Samuel (Jim Broadbent), the ex-deputy editor of the Evening News.
But Samuel has Alzheimer's disease, is slightly violent and can't look after his basic needs.
He also has a secret.
Between drinking too much, running out of drugs and indulging in horizontal folk dancing with his old friend's wife, Tom begins to search for the truth inside the confused mind of his father.
Why did Samuel severely beat Tom when he caught him rummaging through his files as a teenager?
Why is there a series of negative photos with the name of a former developer on them?
Why is this former developer now the leader of the local council?What has Forsyth Barr Stadium got to do with it all?
Where are my slippers?
All will be revealed in the mere two episodes left of this three-episode council front page screamer.
- Charles Loughrey
