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

Still love Homeland? You’ll really love this FREE audiobook

Okay, so series three of Homeland might be a bit um, slow, to put it mildly, but never let it be said it’s not the gift that keeps on giving. Those clever chaps at Audible.co.uk have teamed up with Twentieth Century Fox Consumer Products to offer British fans the chance to listen to an exclusive, original story extension of the hit show, following this week’s third episode.

In true Homeland style, it’s ground-breaking stuff and is the first collaboration of its kind, as fans can download an original half-hour story performed by none other than Damian Lewis – aka Nicholas Brody.

Lewis said: “The Audible Homeland story has allowed my character,  Nick Brody, to forge a more intimate and personal connection with the show’s fans, adding additional layers and depth to the plot points  unveiled this season.” Hey, we’re all for getting intimate with Lewis…

But seriously, the audio story also ties into important plotlines from the first episodes, so if you’re as addicted as we are, don’t waste any more time and scoot along toute de suite to this site.

Happy listening!

Channel 4 makes Sunday nights worth staying in for with Homeland series three

Court short: Carrie (Claire Danes) feels the strain during a lonely Senate investigation

A few days ago, I was raving (and, admittedly swooning a smidge) over James Spader’s gobsmacking performance in Sky Living’s new American drama The Blacklist, comparing it to slices of TV magnificence such as Breaking Bad and Homeland. My televisual cup runneth over then, as the shiny new third series of the latter series kicked off on Channel 4, bringing some much-needed edge to Sunday nights.

Critics lined up up to have a go at series two, with accusations of shark jumping flying hither and yon, but – simple soul that I am, remember – I loved it. The evolution of that oh-so complicated romance between Carrie and Brody, trying to find out who the hell Quinn was, the fall and rise of Saul – not to mention backstabbing git David Estes being blown to smithereens. Had the writers asked me to suspend my disbelief over the Empire State Building, I’d have happily done it and come back for more, knowing I’d be amply rewarded.

So it goes with the opener for series three, which picks up a few months after the barnstorming events of 0.2. While there’s no sign whatsoever of Brody, there’s still plenty going on. Saul has his hands full running what’s left of the CIA, which the justice system appears to want to dismantle, mainly by making Carrie bear the brunt of a brutal Senate investigation. Of course she doesn’t help herself by not only rolling her eyes in that slightly mad cow way we’ve come to know and love, but also by telling them she believes Brody had nothing to do with the bomb that claimed more than 200 American lives. AND she’s off her lithium. Oopsie.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, so to speak, Saul struggles with his new job as the new director of the CIA (poisoned chalice, anyone?), and finds himself on the sharp end of a mission to take out five different targets spread across the world at the same time in just 20 minutes. Imagine how good he’d be on The Cube?!

By the time the credits roll on episode one, it’s business as usual, with Carrie’s trademark ugly cry getting a dusting off after Saul sticks the knife in, and Dana (who is finally home after staying at a special facility following her suicide attempt) going all American Beauty and stripping off to send topless selfies to her latest bad-boy squeeze. Phew!

Welcome back Homeland. I have SO missed you.

THE WHO, WHAT, WHEN OF IT

WHAT’S IT CALLED?

Homeland

WHEN IS IT ON?

9pm, Sunday, October 6

WHAT CHANNEL?

Channel 4

WHO’S IN IT?

If you don’t know the main stars by now, I’m not telling. But F Murray Abraham puts in another appearance.

WHO SHOULD WATCH IT?

The entire American government. It’d stop them squabbling and give them something constructive to do during the shutdown.

WHO SHOULDN’T WATCH IT?

People who haven’t managed to tune in so far. Trust me, you’ll be completely lost.

Homeland clone misses the mark by a country mile

It would be easy to think of Channel 4’s new drama Complicit as a very British Homeland.

And, once you’ve watched it (if you can stay up long enough), you probably won’t have changed your mind that much, as it treads a very similar psychological path.

In fact, it’s only missing Claire Danes, Damian Lewis, Mandy Patinkin, shitloads of swearing, and tension-fuelled entertainment.

It tries to make up for its shortcomings with a twisty plot from Guy Hibbert, who also wrote Omagh, some admittedly pretty decent acting from the likes of David Oyelowo and Arsher Ali, as well as some moody direction. Unfortunately, while we can just about live with the absence of Claire Danes, Damian Lewis and Mandy Patinkin (just), as well as the shitloads of swearing, it really does need the tension-fuelled entertainment.

The achingly handsome Oyelowo stars as an MI5 agent who is convinced that a terrorist attack on the UK is imminent, and also reckons he knows who’s about to do it.

Unfortunately, he seems unable to convince the higher-ups of what he sees as a clear and present danger. But, such is his determination to protect Queen and country that he reluctantly enters into an uncomfortable alliance with a high-ranking security agent in Cairo, who is willing and able to get him the proof he needs… by any means necessary.

It’s subtle, intelligent and beautifully shot. Unfortunately, it’s also way too long, and – if we’re being strictly honest – far too boring for words. What’s more, after Four Lions, we just can’t see Arsher Ali as a proper, dangerous terrorist…

THE WHO, WHAT AND WHEN OF IT…

WHAT’S IT CALLED?
Complicit

WHEN IS IT ON?
9pm, Sunday, February 17

WHAT CHANNEL?
Channel 4

WHO’S IN IT?
David Oyelowo (Jack Reacher, Lincoln, The Paperboy)
Arsher Ali (Four Lions)

WHO SHOULD WATCH IT?
Conspiracy thriller fans with a high boredom threshold.

WHO SHOULDN’T WATCH IT?
Anyone else.

WANT TO KNOW MORE?
Read all about it on the production company’s own website