Hidden

"Hidden" is a four-part British thriller starring Philip Glenister and Thekla Reuten.

The story is wild, one of those government corruption tales. Government corruption is feasible, and in real life there were riots in Britain and resignations of officials. But there were other elements of this plot that put it on the fanciful side.

Glenister is Harry Ven, a solicitor, is asked by attorney Gina Hawkes (Reuten) to find a alibi witness for her client. This witness also has information about Ven's late brother Mark 20 years earlier.

The plot takes off from there into a political conspiracy. This includes a plan to take over the government by a billionaire. He has an assassination bureau that gets rid of anyone in their way.

David Suchet plays Sir Nigel Fountain, a relative of Hawkes', and he's amazing. At first I didn't recognize him.

The end is a downer because it really doesn't end. There's ambiguous and there's nothing - this was nothing.

The acting was good, with Philip Glenister attractive in a disheveled kind of way and totally believable.

Okay.

I enjoyed the acting, Philip Glenister reminded me more of an updated "Callan", disheveled, unshaven, half asleep etc.. It was good to see David Suchet out of his "Poirot" skin for a while, although I had hoped to see more of a role for him. Anna Chancellor is a fine actress who I have seen do justice to many roles was underused,given her talents. Nevertheless the cast was well thought out and worked well together.

The storyline was another matter. The plot zig-zagged all over the place. I appreciate the need for suspense, but many questions went unanswered. Why were Gina's parents killed? (Because they were a brilliant legal team?) What had the earlier crime, the killing at Braddock House have to to do with the events 20 years later? Maybe I missed something but there seemed to be quite a few loose ends that never got resolved. And, what happened to Elspeth? The ending was not satisfying. Maybe there will be a fifth episode.

Or perhaps a new PI series based upon Philip Glenister's character. With a better plot and no loose strings, it could probably go somewhere.

At least as Gene Hunt, Philip Glenister had some charisma. As Harry Venn, he as none. Neither are the rest of the characters very interesting. Add to that an incoherent and wildly implausible plot, and the best things about this miniseries are the street scenes in London & Paris. Why as high as 4*s? It's like the SAT exams. You get 200 points for remembering your name. (That's an urban legend, btw.)

It's hard to watch all these talented actors with nothing to do.

The premise of this sounded great, and since it is a limited series, I figured, "What the heck?" I have to say that on the whole I was impressed with the show - pacing, intricate plotting, etc. Were all first-rate. However, there are two major issues I have with it:

1 - For the most part, it is very difficult to empathize with many of the characters in this story. In particular, the main character, Harry Venn, is rather coarse and unlikeable. I've not seen Philip Glenister in anything else, so from this one show alone, I have no idea if the man is capable of smiling or not. And almost all of the other characters are equally unlikeable at the very least. Smarmy politicians and sociopathic killers predominate.

2 - There is at least one (if not several) major plot line that is never fully explained. I won't risk a spoiler here by describing it in detail, but trust me, you will feel just as irritated as I did when the show finishes and you're left with a mammoth "Huh?"

All that said, though, it's still a viscerally exciting run of a few hours. I just think they might have invested perhaps one more episode to tie up some of the loose ends.