There's no gloss in Protection, and that's exactly why it lingers. Across six taut, emotionally bruising episodes, this BBC drama delivers a quietly blistering takedown of a system that promises safety, then disappears the moment it matters.
Written by Kris Mrksa and led by a career-best performance from Siobhan Finneran, Protection doesn't rely on genre gimmicks or manufactured cliffhangers. Instead, it roots itself in something far more disquieting: the reality of British witness protection, and what happens when even the people sworn to uphold justice are forced to make morally corrosive compromises.
Finneran plays DI Liz Nyles with remarkable restraint. Every decision, every silence, feels loaded. She isn't the usual telly cop with a tortured backstory... she's just a woman doing an impossible job, one compromise at a time, until the ground disappears beneath her. Her performance never begs for sympathy, which is precisely why it earns it.
The pacing is deliberate, but never dull. Each episode deepens the psychological stakes, moving from procedural discomfort to full-blown ethical crisis without ever raising its voice. It's beautifully directed, especially in the moments between action: hushed corridors, flickering eye contact, late-night phone calls. It's in those spaces that Protection truly thrives.
This is not a show about big twists or neat endings. It's about failure - institutional, emotional, human. And yet, it's never cynical. It's simply honest.
Some viewers may find the finale frustrating in its lack of resolution. But that's the point. There are no heroes here, no neat redemptions. Just the question: what happens when the system meant to protect becomes the thing to fear?
In a landscape cluttered with noise, Protection stands out by whispering the truth - and it cuts deeper because of it. Unflashy, unfaltering, unforgettable.
One of the finest British dramas of the year.
