Litvinenko

The audacity of Putin to have his minions murder British citizens on the streets of Britain is beyond belief. First, this using radiological warfare and later using a banned nerve agent. This and the later events in Salisbury were shocking and showed the world what an appalling and murderous dictator Putin is. The painstaking investigation which proves what happened can be a little sterile but it would be. Obviously, Tennant is not in it long but very good use is made of his time and he delivers a fantastic performance. The whole cast do very well in their roles and the producers deserve praise for recreating these terrible events.

This is a brilliant insight into the murderous Russian regime. The deniability on every level is laughable.

David Tennant's portrayal of Litvinenko is brilliant. Margarita Levieva as his wife is solid and believable.

This is not only a drama but a thriller true crime which will hook you from the first the first episode.

I hope that those who watch Litvinenko will understand the difficulty of bringing justice to those in power.

Mark Bonner, Neil Maskell along with supporting cast are brilliant. It is obvious that a lot of care was taken to depict the true story of a murder that was orchestrated by an evil regime.

The Metropolitan Police investigate the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, a former member of The Russian FSB, now a British Citizen, who is poisoned with deadly agent, plutonium. The Police get some time with the murder victim ahead of his death.

David Tennant was the face of this drama, every advert showed a picture of him, and there is a chilling similarity between Tennant in that hospital bed, and the real life Litvinenko, the big surprise, Tennant only features in one episode.

I really did enjoy it, it seeks to explore the story, details the investigation into the poisoning, and shows the farcical situation in which British officers went on an information seeking mission to Moscow. The one thing it doesn't do, is give enough insight into Litvinenko himself, they could have spent some more time detailing his past.

Episode one is the standout, it's an excellent, gritty, tragic affair, what follows is different, but enjoyable, not as gritty, sometimes a little frivolous, but interesting.

I'm struck by the role the media had in the case, they always seemed to be one step ahead, somebody was clearly leaking information.

A brave drama to make, especially when you think of the current state of affairs between Russia and The West.

It made for an interesting watch.

7/10.

STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful

In 2006, Alexander Litvinenko (David Tennant), a former FSB agent who had relocated to London, was poisoned and taken to hospital. Detectives Brent Hyatt (Neil Maskell) and DS Clive Thomas (Mark Bonner) are sent to take his statement, and anything his wife, Marina (Margarita Levieva) has to say, only for Litvinenko to make the claim that his poisoning is the work of Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin. After his death, a seemingly straightforward murder investigation spirals into a saga of diplomatic relations and international espionage.

I can recall in late 2006 when the story of Alexander Litvinenko was in the papers, even if I didn't follow the story closely, but it definitely caught my eye, so I'm surprised I've dragged my heels so much getting round to this four part drama chronicling the events in the immediate aftermath of it happening. With the current sanctions placed by the UK on Russia in the aftermath of the on-going war in Ukraine, it highlights the amount of dirty money from Russia that's been keeping the economy afloat for so long, and just how much of a blind eye that's been turned to Putin's wrongdoing on British soil, and so there's an uncomfortable prescience to this if nothing else.

The story seems to have been recreated quite accurately and believably, without any corny sensationalism, sadly it plays out in a pretty robotic, workmanlike way that doesn't allow the human drama to blossom in quite the way it should. Performances wise, in the lead role, Tennant brings the titular character to life as well as could be hoped for, in a role with inevitably limited screen time, while there's sturdy support from Levieva as his emotionally overwhelmed but strong willed wife, along with Maskell and Bonner as the hard nosed detectives determined to get justice for the Litvinenkos. In the second act, as the murdered man's past becomes more clear, the tone uncomfortably shifts from straight laced drama to something a little more easy going, even if the dark core of the drama remains.

Overall, it's a perfectly serviceable drama, with all the cylinders firing in the right places, just somewhat perfunctory and without that extra energy required to really give it a kick. ***

I didn't think I'd be convinced that I could forget it was David Tennant in the leading role but the acting and drama was good and gripping enough that I did. It reminded me of some of Vladimir Putins past that I had forgotten. It's a shame that Mrs Litvinenko didn't have a better wig. I found it quite irritating. It was so obviously a wig and this was not necessary. Good performance by all cast. Mark Bonnar kept his London accent very well. One could really get the sense of frustration that the police officers faced. The scale of the possible danger to the British public was better reflected in the accounts of the accompanying program where the real people involved were explaining their part.