Two Men on the Edge: An Analysis of Ronnie Craven and Darius Jedburgh

Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of watching the 1985 TV miniseries Edge of Darkness. A few people might recognize that name from the 2010 Hollywood remake starring Mel Gibson, but that’s not what I’m talking about. What I’m talking about is the series that received eleven nominations at the 1986 BAFTA Awards, for which it won six. I’m talking about the series that ranked third on Channel 4’s list of the Greatest TV Dramas, behind The Sopranos and Boys From the Blackstuff.

Nonetheless, it is not lost on me that this show, while critically acclaimed and quite popular when it came out, was nonetheless released over thirty-five years ago. As such, I will try to go as long as I can without giving away any spoilers. This post is intended for people who have not seen the show, to hopefully encourage them to remedy that.

To speak broadly about Edge of Darkness, it is a six-episode English miniseries (or limited series) of the political thriller genre. The story revolves around a police detective investigating a murder, which in turns leads to him uncovering a conspiracy.

Now, there are many things to appreciate about a show like Edge of Darkness. Its broody, dark atmosphere, enhanced by Eric Clapton’s ominous but catchy score. Its lovable, memorable, and well-defined side characters. Its resounding condemnation of Thatcher’s government and the nuclear industry, backed up by its strong environmentalist theming.

But no aspect of the show stands out to me more strongly than the character dynamic between the story’s protagonist and his foil, the story’s deuteragonist. This, to me, is the show’s greatest strength: the dynamic between police detective Ronnie Craven and CIA agent Darius Jedburgh.

The dynamic between Ronnie and Darius is, at its core, not one that’s never been done before. But it is the quality of the writing that makes this dynamic special. They are two men who are complete opposites, yet are deep down quite the same. There are a few aspects of their personality that immediately stand out as having a deliberate contrast.

Both are good-humored and amiable, but Ronnie is more soft-spoken, while Darius is more sociable. Both have their own moral codes, which don’t always necessarily agree with those of the institutions they work for. Ronnie is the spitting image of a conventional English policeman, Darius looks and acts nothing like a typical CIA agent. Ronnie is sheltered, not knowing much outside of his small world in Yorkshire, but he doesn’t harbor any profound patriotism or love for his country. In one scene, he speaks about how he received a medal from the queen, doing so in the most unenthused manner that is socially appropriate. Darius, conversely, is very multicultural, having traveled the world, but is simultaneously as deeply Texan as they come. He flirts with various ideologies such as communism, jokes about the JFK assassination, and yet is willing to do just about anything for the good of his country.

And, probably most importantly, Darius is a loner, and Ronnie isn’t.

At this point, it becomes impossible to talk about the depth of this character dynamic without at least talking about the story’s inciting incident. As such, I’m issuing a spoiler warning.

Most of these details are readily available if you were to look up a synopsis, so if haven’t seen the show, you may still continue reading. Nonetheless, if I’ve somehow already convinced you to watch the show with what few details I’ve discussed thus far, feel free to give it a whirl and come back.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR EPISODE ONE BELOW

With that out of the way, we can really get into it. The events of Edge of Darkness begin when Ronnie and his daughter, Ema, are accosted by a man with a shotgun outside their home. The man threatens Ronnie, but Ema intervenes, and is shot dead. The man escapes, and thus begins Ronnie’s search to uncover the truth of this sudden tragedy.

To dial it back, however, I feel like I must begin by discussing Ronnie’s introductory scene, which perfectly tells you everything you need to know about his character. Ronnie is confronting a politician, Godbolt, who he believes is guilty of electoral fraud. He knows that following through with this investigation and taking Godbolt to task is the right thing to do, morally and lawfully. But, in the end, Godbolt appeals to him, and Ronnie rescinds.

Ronnie knows what the right thing is, he wants to do it, but external pressures keep him from fully realizing his own sense of justice.

After the sudden murder of Ronnie’s daughter, two truths about his past are revealed. The first, an emotional truth, is that Ronnie’s wife had passed away some time ago. Ema was all that Ronnie had left, and now she’s gone. Second, a more enigmatic discovery, is that Ema was hiding a Geiger counter and a pistol in her room. Later, the episode ends with a mysterious man named Pendleton informing Ronnie that his daughter was seemingly an ecoterrorist, and floats the idea that the man with the shotgun may have been targeting her intentionally.

Without spoiling any more, I can say that the show absolutely delivers on this premise. The line between right and wrong is appropriately blurred, and just because Ronnie, a policeman, finds out his daughter was possibly an ecoterrorist doesn’t mean that she is suddenly a total stranger to him.

But where does Darius fit into all of this? In the first episode of the show, Ronnie and Darius don’t even meet. Even still, understanding one helps to understand the other.

Ronnie cares very deeply for his wife and daughter, but both of them are torn apart from him tragically. Darius, friendly as his exterior is, doesn’t seem to care deeply about anyone but himself. Ronnie has been cursed with being alone, Darius chooses to be alone. However, Ronnie’s forced isolation eventually gives way to new forms of love and appreciation for the connections he does still have. Darius’ voluntarily isolation only gives way to more isolation.

To talk more about Darius, though, I have to at least talk about his first meeting with Ronnie in the next episode, so here’s another small spoiler warning. I’ll also be discussing a very small detail about Darius that is revealed in episode four. If you’ve come this far, you might as well keep going.

MINOR SPOILERS FOR EPISODES TWO TO FOUR BELOW

Ronnie and Darius’ first meeting takes place at a bar. There are two other men with them who are both quite drunk. One is passed out, and the other is totally incoherent. It might as well just be the two of them. While this mostly serves to give room for a simple two-man scene, it’s also a wonderfully economical contextualization of Darius’ character. While he surrounds himself with friendly faces, no one really knows him. No one, perhaps, except for the one man who’s so similar to him.

Ronnie and Darius bond over an appreciation for Willie Nelson’s album Red Headed Stranger, which tells the story of a man who discovers that his wife is having an affair, kills her and her lover, and embarks on a journey of redemption. For Ronnie, it’s mostly an object of foreign wonder.

For Darius, however, it’s something that he connects with, and maybe even a possible hint as to an explanation for his loneliness. A defining character trait of the eponymous Stranger is his deep affection for his horse, a sort of replacement for real human connection following the murder of his wife. Darius, too, displays an unabashed love for various activities, namely playing golf and watching British dancing shows. His affinity for these sorts of activities could be a similar substitute for real human friendship.

Golf is typically seen as a practical social activity, a casual sport that’s only an excuse to underpin a conversation. We see Darius playing golf with a few random strangers during the course of the show, mostly as part of his work. Conversely, his bizarre fascination with British dancing shows is seemingly more personal. It suggests a gentler, more artistically inclined side to him that we scarcely see. It’s significant that the only other person he feels comfortable sharing this hobby with is Ronnie.

In short, the parallels between Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger character and Darius run deep. After all, it’s probably not a coincidence that Darius and Willie Nelson are both from Texas. The album is brought up at least one more time during the show, but I won’t tell you when.

To wrap up, I’ll say that as the show goes on, Ema’s ecoterrorist activities intrigue Ronnie more and more. While the show obviously can’t openly condone terrorism, Ronnie does learn to loosen his way of thinking. And while Ema’s posthumous influence certainly is a great factor in this, Darius’ rebellious tendencies certainly help facilitate this change, as well.

In the end, they’re the same. But in the end, they’re complete opposites.

One is a renegade who explores the world and has no one to share it with. The other is a family man torn apart from that which he loves, and forced to embark on a journey of rebirth.

Darius is a man who lives in darkness, but is teetering on the edge of light.

Ronnie is a man who lives in light, but is teetering on… do I even need to say it?