I started out really enjoying the pace and excitement of this mini-series, shown in three 100 minute parts here in Australia. Stephen Collins (David Morrissey) seemed an intriguing politician and his ex-campaign manager turned broadsheet investigative reporter Cal McCaffrey (John Simm) was also interesting. There were a host of other lively characters including Bill Nighy as the editor from Heaven and Kelly McDonald as an intrepid cub reporter. Politics, big business, the press and the police are always capable of providing conflict and here there was plenty of argy-bargy.
Then why was I so disappointed at the end? Partly because a number of the hares set off by the action just vanished over the horizon. What looked like some interesting questions about big business interfering with the political process were not resolved. The resolution of the story came down to a personal confrontation which had been telegraphed for quite some time. The aftermath was merely hinted at. Several main characters were not even given exit lines. There are several implausibilities in the plot eg why did the police shoot the suspected killer? One doesn't look for more than a veneer of authenticity in a show like this, but it was odd that despite all the fireworks no other paper got on to the story, or even part of it.
Still, on the way there were some memorable scenes, such as John Simm and Bill Nighy trying to convince a suspicious and slightly baffled Geraldine James to spend some more money on their big story, and the antics of the unfortunate Dominic Foy, who hadn't really done anything very bad, except be a PR man, yet got chased all over the place. Entertaining, but a let-down at the end.
Then why was I so disappointed at the end? Partly because a number of the hares set off by the action just vanished over the horizon. What looked like some interesting questions about big business interfering with the political process were not resolved. The resolution of the story came down to a personal confrontation which had been telegraphed for quite some time. The aftermath was merely hinted at. Several main characters were not even given exit lines. There are several implausibilities in the plot eg why did the police shoot the suspected killer? One doesn't look for more than a veneer of authenticity in a show like this, but it was odd that despite all the fireworks no other paper got on to the story, or even part of it.
Still, on the way there were some memorable scenes, such as John Simm and Bill Nighy trying to convince a suspicious and slightly baffled Geraldine James to spend some more money on their big story, and the antics of the unfortunate Dominic Foy, who hadn't really done anything very bad, except be a PR man, yet got chased all over the place. Entertaining, but a let-down at the end.