Decadent & DOOMED

The dying days of the empire, a mysterious woman and a deadly enemy make for a heady cocktail in a richly exotic new drama

The summer of 1941, and times are good for the lucky few enjoying the privileged existence afforded to colonials in the British outpost of Singapore. The war in Europe is a distant affair, but it means business is roaring for Walter Blackett

(David Morrissey) and Mr Webb (Charles Dance), whose firm can barely keep up with the insatiable demand for rubber.

Living in their sprawling mansions surrounded by servants, the two men could hardly be more different. Staunchly moral Webb has high hopes for his idealistic son Matthew (Luke Treadaway), while the avaricious Blackett has virtually given up on his own boy, the decadent party animal Monty (Luke Newberry) but has faith that his femme fatale daughter Joan (Georgia Blizzard, above, with Bart Edwards) will marry well. Then into their midst comes the beautiful and mysterious Vera Chiang (Elizabeth Tan), whose presence challenges the racism and snobbery of the Europeans – and poses a threat to Joan and her plans to ensnare Matthew.

Yet their whole world is just a few months from doom – the crushing defeat that Churchill described as ‘the worst disaster’ in British history, when 80,000 troops surrendered Singapore to the invading Japanese.

This is the setting as a sumptuous new six-part series gets under way to chart a littleknown chapter of the dying days of empire. Adapted by the Oscarwinning screenwriter Christopher Hampton from the novel by J.G. Farrell, The Singapore Grip is rich enough with exotic period spectacle to satisfy devotees of Downton, but injected with a satirical bite that questions Britain’s imperial legacy while steadfastly avoiding anachronistic political correctness.

A dark saga of the more recent past is recalled in the week’s other landmark new drama, Des. Showing over three consecutive nights, this is the story of Dennis Nilsen (David Tennant, inset), who murdered 15 young men before his arrest in 1983. For detective Peter Jay (Daniel Mays), the question is how Nilsen could have carried on plucking his victims off the streets unnoticed for years. But we also follow the killer’s biographer Brian Masters (Jason Watkins) as he goes about an even more disturbing quest: attempting to understand the inner workings of Nilsen’s twisted mind. Tennant’s riveting performance is utterly compelling. Here is a chilling portrayal in which every tiny nuance feels true to life.