Sunday 3 April 2016

UNDERCOVER - EPISODE 1 (BBC ONE)

Undercover is a six-part political thriller drama. It is centered on a female black barrister who's the favourite for an important position in the British judicial system when the hidden past of her husband threatens to destroy her world.

Passionate barrister Maya Cobbina is happily married to Nick Johnson, a man dedicated to his wife and three children. She's in Louisiana as her client Rudy Jones must be executed. The execution is botched and she gets an appeal. Back in London, Maya learns that she's headhunted to become the new Director of Public Prosecutions.

The position might allow her to finally bring to justice the death of her friend Michael Antwi, an anti-racism campaigner. Soon, a figure from her husband's past asks Nick to do something he did 20 years ago when he met his wife: then she was a civil rights activist and he was an undercover police officer whose mission was to spy on her.

Created and written by Peter Moffat (The Village, Silk), Undercover is inspired by the real-life cases of women tricked into long-term relationships by undercover police officers. It stars Sophie Okonedo (Maya), Adrian Lester (Hustle) as Nick, American actor Dennis Haysbert (24) as Rudy Jones, Derek Ridell (Paul Brightman), Tamara Lawrance, Daniel Ezra, Shannon Hayes, Phil Davis, Vincent Regan, etc.

The new BBC One drama is not without assets. You need some when you take a time slot left by The Night Manager. The subject is interesting, the cast is great, the performances from Sophie Okonedo and Adrian Lester are splendid. But sadly it takes an eternity to put the plot in place after what looks like a repeat of one of these US films/TV movies about Death Row.

Directed by James Hawes. Co-produced by BBC Drama Production London and BBC America. Produced by Richard Stokes. Hilary Salmon and Peter Moffat exec produce. The premiere of Undercover drew 5.2m viewers (24.1%).

http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/mar/27/undercover-police-tv-drama-probes-family-betrayals-sophie-okonedo-adrian-lester
http://www.theartsdesk.com/tv/undercover-bbc-one
http://dvd-fever.co.uk/undercover-episode-1-the-dvdfever-review/

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