Last night on television Anita Singh Not even the dog’s safe in this claustrophobic thriller
When in doubt about how to move a plot forward, bring out the plucky newspaper reporter. In (BBC One), millionaire businessman Dan Docherty (Martin Compston) has failed to turn up any information about the background of the teenage girl that he’s paying as a surrogate. We, and he, know that Kaya (Mirren Mack) has something to hide. And so into the story comes Eleanor (Katie Leung), a journalist whose idea to investigate the discovery of a body in the Clyde is dismissed by her editor – “This isnae Nancy Drew!” – but goes ahead and does it anyway. This involves doing the sort of thing reporters do in dramas, such as going into the office to work late at night because they have seemingly yet to discover that internet searches can be done at home. Anyway, it is through Eleanor’s diligent work that Dan learns the horrible truth about Kaya.
Or, at least, he thinks he does. It appears that Kaya is living under a new identity in Glasgow after, aged 11, stabbing a pregnant woman and killing her unborn baby on the Isle of Lewis. I think I missed the bit that explained how Eleanor made this connection, but there it was in black and white for Dan to read. However, we’re only two episodes into a five-part thriller, so surely there’s more to this than meets the eye. And is the girl being looked after by Kaya’s social worker (James Harkness) actually her daughter? We’re supposed to think so but, again, maybe that’s too easy.
If Mack gave the standout performance in the first episode, this one belonged to Compston. Before the reveal about Kaya’s past, Dan struggled to contain his frustration at having this moody teenager as a houseguest. The scene in which he boiled over with rage, when Kaya sneaked out to a club and came home drunk, was terrific. Dan hasn’t made it from tough beginnings to become a millionaire property developer without resorting to some unsavoury practices. Yet there is enough vulnerability in Compston’s performance to make his relationship with nice, middle class Emily (Sophie Rundle) a believable proposition. David Hayman is made for the role of Souter, Dan’s sinister fixer.
It’s a plot that continues to grip. Director Andy de Emmony deftly conveys the claustrophobia of the central relationship, and you understand Kaya’s description of her situation as “more like a jail than a jail”, even if it does come with superfood salads and rides in flash cars. But there is always an air of danger about her. At this stage, I’m chiefly worried for Dan’s sweetly naive nephew, the reporter and the dog.
The third episode of Belgravia (ITV) was the point at which this series went off the boil. Julian Fellowes is tossing in more characters, and most of them are awful. The servants are the worst. Deferential they are not – all seem to address their employers in the manner of nosy hairdressers. “Why was Mr Oliver so angry?” a lady’s maid demanded of her mistress, Susan Trenchard (Alice Eve), after witnessing a marital spat, then made enquiries about her plans for an affair. And you thought the upstairsdownstairs relationships in Downton Abbey were a little overfamiliar.
Almost everyone is a piece of work. Susan is scheming to bag the heir to an earldom; the maid, Speer (Bronagh Gallagher), knows this and plans to use that knowledge to her advantage. James Trenchard (Philip Glenister) has spent years lying to his wife about contact with their secret grandson, but couldn’t be bothered to explain or apologise for it. Even the Reverend is a dreadful human being, cooking up a blackmail plot with his equally dreadful son. Tara Fitzgerald popped up for a minute and didn’t seem too nice either, but then she was gone again, which left you wondering why they bothered with her at all.
The people we are supposed to like are too dull to bother with, including the instantly forgettable Charles Pope (Jack Bardoe) and his love interest. In the acting stakes, Tom Wilkinson and Harriet Walter are leagues above as Lord and Lady Brockenhurst, and we need to see more of them. The plot now revolves around one of Fellowes’s favourite subjects, primogeniture, and the battle to inherit the earldom and the estate. “It isn’t fair. But it is the system that we were born into,” as Lord Brockenhurst explained, and that is the end of that.
It all looks handsome enough, even if the sweeping overhead shots have a touch of The Apprentice camerawork about them. I just wish it could be a little more agreeable.
The Nest ★★★★ Belgravia ★★★