Litvinenko

This was stunningly good. The Missus wanted to watch it for David, her sex symbol, but it was once past that an excellent dramatisation of one of Putin's first big impacts on the UK.

A solid piece of drama with a well-written script that reflected the realities of the time well. Nice use of props, I didn't spot a single phone or computer that wasn't around at the time!

A lot of filming in Cardiff, which gave us a smile or two as London locations were clearly places we see every day :-)

The UK government's response to things is depressing, but hey, everything about this government has been depressing too, has it not?

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.

If this was from a book by John Le Carrier telling a tale of a former traitor to the Russian state, who was poisoned to death whilst living in London by the most lethal poison on earth then you would dismiss it as piece of fiction.

But this was no Cold War piece of fiction but a truly frightening tale of the lengths that Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin would go to, to take out Sasha Litvnenko a former Russian agent.

Rather like the Salisbury poisonings this was Putins way of sticking up two fingers to the west. With compulsive evidence from CCTV to trace's of Polonium found, it became impossible to get the killers to trial due to a communist regime and diplomatic immunity.

With high production costs and superb performances throughout I would highly recommend this show. 8/10.

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.

While this is a sad story and a tough subject to approach, the entire cast did a superb job. I cannot think of better actors to have done this project justice. Well done!

While for me, the 4 part mini series went quickly due to understanding the nature of the politics involved. You could see that the overall cast and most likely crew were very devoted to getting the story told properly.

Definitely award worthy as this is so poignant today. After listening to Marina speak of the struggles to get this series made and her take on it, I'm so glad it was not glammed up or changed to be "hollywood-ish".