Collateral, BBC2

[Nick Armstrong]

I've been pretty absorbed by this 4 parter on BBC2 - I have the last episode yet to watch... (All are available for another 4 weeks https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09...pisodes/player)

Deft dramatic plotting and dialogue by Sir David Hare, and a great cast - John Simm as a member of the shadow cabinet, the mesmerising Nicola Walker as a vicar drawn into the saga, Billie Piper as the MP's troubled ex, Carey Mulligan excellent as the main cop.

I've read criticism that political points are rammed home, but they haven't troubled me. Alas I've also picked up that the final episode is a let-down, which doesn't bode well.

But so far, several divisions above the likes of Endeavour, Modus etc

[Conchis]

I don't like David Hare, and never have. Finally, it's become 'safe' to admit this.

Hare's confused and rambling semi-polemics have been over-praised for decades. I refuse to give him his 'title' because he doesn't deserve it.

Hopefully, there will be a revival of interest in real socialist playwrights like Trevor Griffiths - still alive and well but horribly under-used and under-appreciated.

[LMcD]

I've been pretty absorbed by this 4 parter on BBC2 - I have the last episode yet to watch... (All are available for another 4 weeks https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09...pisodes/player)

Deft dramatic plotting and dialogue by Sir David Hare, and a great cast - John Simm as a member of the shadow cabinet, the mesmerising Nicola Walker as a vicar drawn into the saga, Billie Piper as the MP's troubled ex, Carey Mulligan excellent as the main cop.

I've read criticism that political points are rammed home, but they haven't troubled me. Alas I've also picked up that the final episode is a let-down, which doesn't bode well.

But so far, several divisions above the likes of Endeavour, Modus etc

I share your enthusiasm for this series - I had actually thought of starting a thread! Rather sadly, I have to agree with John Simm's line 'We really are turning into a nasty little country'. I wasn't disappointed in the final episode. Importantly - unlike certain series based in Oxford and elsewhere - 'Collateral' settled on a story, identified the essential theme, created the appropriate structure around it and held its dramatic nerve. Result: a decidedly superior piece of TV drama - political, but not burdensomely so. I thought Carey Milligan was magnificent throughout.

Oh yes, I should add that any series featuring Nicola Walker is off to a flying start in my book!

[Richard Tarleton]

Gave up after a couple of episodes - like being waterboarded with political pamphlets, as The Times critic put it (referring not least to a scene in the last episode which I didn't see, but I'd heard enough). Acting superb, but Hare was trying to 'cram everything into his "state of the nation" patchwork: church, military, MPs, press, police, MI5....'.

Why make Kip Glaspie a pole-vaulter? Was this a metaphor, or plucked at random from a list of possible back-stories? (Show jumper, landscape gardener...)

I gave up also on Hare's last [?] TV outing, Turks & Caicos - once again, great cast (Bill Nighy), implausible script and plotting. He's not all bad - his screenplay for "Denial", the film about the David Irving trial, excellent.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I was hooked on this from the start. Thought provoking throughout.

[DracoM]

Acting and editing better than the script. Never really settled on the precise targets, kept on impatiently scatter bombing. Watchable but not memorable.

[jean]

The really unbelievable character was the vicar's Vietnamese girlfriend. She showed so little interest in her partner that it was bound to end badly, as the vicar may have sensed, which must have made doing as the bishop told her less of a sacrifice.

[Nick Armstrong]

I share your enthusiasm for this series - I had actually thought of starting a thread! Rather sadly, I have to agree with John Simm's line 'We really are turning into a nasty little country'. I wasn't disappointed in the final episode. Importantly - unlike certain series based in Oxford and elsewhere - 'Collateral' settled on a story, identified the essential theme, created the appropriate structure around it and held its dramatic nerve. Result: a decidedly superior piece of TV drama - political, but not burdensomely so. I thought Carey Milligan was magnificent throughout.

Oh yes, I should add that any series featuring Nicola Walker is off to a flying start in my book!

Agreed on all fronts. We must be less sensitive to the political 'waterboarding' than Richard T and others - yes there was a wee bit more in the final episode, but I wondered if that was because I'd been made aware of the criticism by then. Having watched that final episode, I don't get the disappointment expressed elsewhere - a dramatically-satisfying conclusion.

I don't carry any particular candle for Hare - I was going to say I'm not sure I've ever seen any of his other stuff, and that's certainly true of his stage plays, but then I read above that he was the writer of Turks & Caicos which I remember enjoying....

[LMcD]

I thought 'The Reader' (2008) was pretty good.

[Richard Tarleton]

I thought 'The Reader' (2008) was pretty good.

Indeed, though like Denial that's a screenplay based on someone else's book. Looking through his Wiki page I did see the lurid 1992 film Damage, hadn't realised that was by him.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Indeed, though like Denial that's a screenplay based on someone else's book. Looking through his Wiki page I did see the lurid 1992 film Damage, hadn't realised that was by him.

But that's also a screenplay based on someone else's book.

I greatly enjoyed Collateral - rather sad that it was only four episodes.

[Richard Tarleton]

But that's also a screenplay based on someone else's book.

So it is ....

[Ferretfancy]

I don't like David Hare, and never have. Finally, it's become 'safe' to admit this.

Hare's confused and rambling semi-polemics have been over-praised for decades. I refuse to give him his 'title' because he doesn't deserve it.

Hopefully, there will be a revival of interest in real socialist playwrights like Trevor Griffiths - still alive and well but horribly under-used and under-appreciated.

Years ago, a few days after the downfall of Margaret Thatcher, David Hare came into the studio where I was working to record some comments for a documentary.
After all this time I can't remember the details, but I do remember how he and his buddies assured each other that she was deposed almost solely due to their efforts!

The trick with writing TV drama these days seems to be that all members of the cast must play deeply dislikable characters so that you really don't care what happens to any of them. Journalists love it though, so hence the good reviews.

[Richard Tarleton]

At the risk of sounding obsessive, any insights into "pole vaulter"? Considering David Hare thought of her for the part, the petite Ms Mulligan (5'7") a most unlikely pole vaulter, the typical physique for which is tall and powerful. If this were Endeavour, it would be for a reason....

[Nick Armstrong]

Journalists love it though, so hence the good reviews.

I've only read lukewarm reviews of Collateral, though...