The Secret Agent

It's a strange and unconvincing story, but it has its points of interest, as it deals with the murky late Victorian world of mysterious anarchists.

Unfortunately, this BBC version is not very well done. The main problem is that it is too slow and does not flow.

Stephen Graham has a difficult part as Inspector Heat, whose doings and motivations are often obscure. Why he further encumbers this with a heavy Scouse accent is one of the mysteries of the series (I know he's from Liverpool, but he's good at accents).

As for Vicky McClure, what is her accent? It's unrelated to the speech of the rest of her screen family and also seems anachronistic to me (too many glottal stops and -d- for -t- in places). Is it that she is just using her own accent (and does she perhaps do so in every part she gets)?

The first episode does start out rather slow and it has a lighthearted feel to it. Seeing Toby Jones in this type of role for the first time takes a bit of time to get use to ,but He does come through and gives a great performance.

A real stand out performance from Vicky McClure and the rest of the cast give a good performance too. By episode 2 it starts to get dark and much more enjoyable to watch.

Episode 3 is really good ,it takes some really dark twists and holds your interest .

The music really adds to the feel of it all, as does the great location scenes. I thought it well acted and produced, it leaves you wanting more.

The Secret Agent based on Joseph Konrad's work of the same name, for me at least, is rather uninspiring and badly dated.

This series, on first view, feels like a "dull artifact" that expresses stale, somewhat paranoid sentiments, from a bygone era.

Unlike similar series, such as Reilly Ace of Spies, there's nothing overly exciting on offer here. Reilly beautifully captured the essence of an early period of political intrigue and built an enjoyable tale around it. By contrast, The Secret Agent, simply feels like a proxy for the exhumed opinions of long dead political elites, afraid of the Communist bogey man.

The acting in this series and production values, as is often the case in the UK, are of a high standard. Its not for me, the performances, that are in question, however. The whole proposition seems anachronistic, when filtered through 21st century eyes. The Secret Agent, might have worked as a satire or adapted to a comedic format but, as serous drama, to me, it feels like an absurdity. Five out of ten.

Not many I would watch twice but this I did Glad to do so production and acting was enough for a repeat look Ps my phone means I cant see what I hve typed.

This is an interesting period mini-season drama. Acorn dramas tend to below budget, and family friendly productions. This drama takes place in Victorian England in 1885. The acting is good, as are the costumes, and production values. The plot kept me involved, but the story is not so much a spy thriller, but more of a character study. The series' title would lead a viewer to think that the story involves a lot of spy drama and action. Actually, the story revolves around one character, with some police work and international politics. I think the series would have been better with a couple fewer episodes, or, could have been a full length feature film. Overall, the series is okay, and I didn't feel like it wasted my time. But I don't feel as though I would have missed anything if I hadn't seen it. For me, this is another "Meh" series.