The Driver

Set in and around the roughest streets of Manchester, UK, THE DRIVER is at heart a morality tale revealing the consequences of Vince McKee's (David Morrissey's) decision to agree to become the driver of a criminal gang headed by Horse (Colm Meaney).

Not only does Vince become involved in a complicated web of lies and deceit, but his family life is destroyed as a result. His wife Ros (Claudie Blakley), and daughter Katie (Sacha Parkinson) are forced to make life-changing decisions in order to live - something they had never even considered before. Vince's son Tim (Lewis Rainer) has also left home, and apparently will never speak to the rest of the family again - at least for the foreseeable future.

Jamie Payne's production does not take sides, but explores the destructive effect that Vince's decision has on his own psyche, as well as that of his family. The production is full of close-ups of his tortured face as he merely goes through the motions of trying to be a good family man, while implicitly accepting everything that Horse and his fellow gang-members want from him. Having sacrificed his soul to the devil, so to speak, there is really not much point in life for him, despite his attempts to justify himself. On the other hand, what other choice does he have, other than to continue working in a dead-end job as a minicab driver, living a hand-to- mouth existence under the aegis of unsympathetic boss Amjad (Harish Patel)?

The noir atmosphere of the production is significant, conjuring up a world of shadows and perpetual cloud and rain in which moral standards have simply been forgotten. All the characters inhabit a netherworld in which financial gain assumes primary importance. The car-chases assume a thematic importance - not only as a means for people to escape from their pursuers, but as a metaphor for a desperate dog-eat-dog world in which only the fittest survive. Vince is nothing more than a pawn in everyone else's schemes.

THE DRIVER ends on a note of qualified optimism, but does not suggest that Vince's family life will ever be restored to 'normality'. On the contrary, Payne's production suggests that this kind of life can never exist in a noir world. Vince just has to make the best of what he has.

Snappily directed, with some good action sequences intercut with claustrophobic interior sequences, THE DRIVER is a highly watchable miniseries.

David Morrisey always seems to me to play characters with a certain air about them just in a different job eg cop or baddie. That works very in this role and he does it well.

In this cautionary tale he develops a nice little earner and you're not sure whether to feel sorry for him , condone or condemn him but all the time you know it just cant last.

Mixing in family problems, it's that conundrum that gets you hooked and watching to the end to see what happens.

The action and pace never really break into a fast trot apart from the first couple of minutes of episode 1 but it does flow along nicely. There's the odd flash of dark humour here and there particularly one of the thugs describing his girlfriend moving "down south". All well played by a good cast.

Well with a watch.

Good, quick watch. The main character is well played and I liked the story line. Was a great start but kind of fizzled for me by the end. Worth a watch.

The driver starts with a thrilling car chase as Vince McKee (David Morrissey) evades the police in the streets of Manchester. You almost feel this could be akin to the film Drive.

Vince life takes an unexpected turn as an old friend Colin (Ian Hart) released from prison gets him to accept an offer to drive for a criminal gang.

Vince a taxi driver, sick with the life as a cabbie finds that he is an ordinary man who is in over his head by being a driver for the criminals. His life has taken a turn for the worse since his son joined some kind of cult and he and his wife have drifted apart.

Gang leader, The Horse (Colm Meaney) is not a man who stands for nonsense, when a job which leads to a man being shoved in a hole and left for dead goes awry, Vince realises he wants his old life back but the police are also watching him.

After a bright opening episode, you realise from the second episode that this three parter has a flimsy plot. Vince is not cut out to be a bad boy, his mistakes lands his friend Colin in a spot of bother and in the final episode the Police have got him and its a case of whether Vince will give the gang up.

A disappointment when you realise that this could had been a good 90 minutes film. Meaney, Hart and Morrissey act their parts well, some of the car chase scenes are exciting, there is a lot of grittiness and the scenes where he confronts his son in the cult's home will make your heart cry for Vince but it needed a more solid script.

Life is tough for troubled muggle, Vince McKee (David Morrissey). No bed of roses at home and finding it tough making a living as a cabbie in Manchester's rain-drenched streets. His fares either puke on his seats then don't pay or they have no cash and steal his day's earnings. This all changes when Mickey (Ian Hart) - just out after a six year stretch inside - suggests Vince does some driving for his gangster boss, Horse (Colm Meaney). Things start to go belly up soon after as he realizes there's no way back from a life in crime.

With so many tough acts to follow - Sherlock, The Fall, Broadchurch, Utopia, etc - The Driver really needs deliver something unexpected to help it stand out; this it roundly fails to do. It manages to be adequate in all domains: The dialogue, the plot, the direction, the camera-work, the performances, the action are all good though there's nothing that jumps off the screen. That said, there are two stand-out performances: Sacha Parkinson as Vince's daughter and Harish Patel as Vince's minicab boss.

David Morrissey's character grows ever more annoying as he dithers between his lives at home and in crime. In a way, he's morally gray: He's unable to invest himself in normal family life and clearly not cut out to be a criminal. His big problem is he's just not that interesting, nor are his reactions to criminality very compelling. His best moment comes when he tries to recontact his estranged son who is living in a commune. We get a brief glimpse of fire amongst barely glowing embers.

With a series called The Driver it's hard not to look for references to Nicolas Winding Refn's superb "Drive", but there are none. Although there is nothing much to remember about The Driver, the action sequences are well-handled and there are some nifty camera moves in Vince's car. The big question that this miniseries leaves you with is why oh why would a competent gangster trust the job of getaway driver to a civilian cab driver who's scared witless?