Renew your love of TV drama with David Tennant’s The Escape Artist

Since the first series of Broadchurch ended earlier this year, fans of high-end, twist-in-the-tail psychological crime dramas have been desperately seeking something to rave about.

We were satisfied for a while as the BBC brought us the stunning What Remains, the strangely huh?-ending The Fall – which, like Broadchurch, has been recommissioned for a second series but, unlike Broadchurch, probably won’t have an American rehash – and Jane Campion-import Top of the Lake… not to mention more Scandi-noir than we could shake a Viking at, while Sky delivered slick Bridge remake The Tunnel.

But, with Homeland’s star seemingly on the wane as the turgid third series limps on (though, reports from across the Atlantic suggest an upcoming episode will restore viewers’ faith in Carrie and Brody), it was beginning to look like we’d have to start rooting round the VoD sites to satisfy our need for some stimulating TV.

Well, not any more. Up steps David Tennant once again with another slice of really, really – sickeningly, really – good drama.

He plays Will Burton, a disgustingly intelligent up-and-coming has-it-all defence barrister, a married father with hot and cold running houses and a dog, who can spot a flaw in the prosecution’s case faster than you can say ‘technicality’.

Hiding behind his ‘everyone deserves a defence’ mantra, he defends the almost indefensible – and he wins. Every time. Though it costs him, as he finds it nearly impossible to shake the hands of some of the more unsavoury people he represents. And so it is that he is persuaded to accept the case of an thoroughly unlikeable and totally arrogant man, who stands accused of the particularly horrific sexual murder of a young woman.

As you’d expect from Spooks’ writer David Wolstencroft, this three-part thriller sets a breathless pace from the opening credits of the first episode. Burton successfully defends two clients – including the accused murderer – in the opening half hour, but after this second successful case, the brilliant lawyer’s near-perfect world is shattered in the cruellest fashion.

This could easily have turned into a worldly Devil’s Advocate, but Tennant’s performance is pitch perfect. A lock of the jaw here, a sniff there, a refusal to shake a hand – all small touches that create a character so much greater than the sum of those tiny parts. Burton could, probably should, be impossible to like, but we’re with him all the way and his horror and pain at the end of a truly astonishing opening episode is tangible.

He’s aided and abetted by the wonderful Ashley Jensen, who plays his perfect wife, the mesmerising Sophie Okonedo as a rival lawyer, and Toby Kebbell – who channels Kevin Spacey in Se7en to play the genuinely creepy and unhinged Liam Foyle. Fans of the Inspector Dalgleish mysteries will probably also be pleased to see veteran Roy Marsden back on the screen in a small but telling role.

With Legacy, Lucan, The Great Train Robbery, Hostages, a second series of The Bridge and Stephen Moffatt’s small-screen leviathan Sherlock all set to grace our screens in the months to come, The Escape Artist could be the beginning of a beautiful new friendship with gripping TV drama.

THE WHO, WHAT, WHEN OF IT

WHAT’S IT CALLED?

The Escape Artist

WHEN IS IT ON?

9pm, Tuesday, October 29

WHAT CHANNEL?

BBC1

WHO’S IN IT?

David Tennant, Ashley Jensen, Sophie Okonedo, Toby Kebbell, Roy Marsden

WHO SHOULD WATCH IT?

Fans of brilliant, breathless, tense, psychological drama

WHO SHOULDN’T WATCH IT?

Fools and eejits