Undercover

Last decade or so, the UK has produced so many versatile and dramatic (mini-)series that one must unavoidably compare and choose between them - as time is limited and eyes must relax from time to time. Sometimes you tend to forget what you have seen already - due to several recurrent actors, often in similar roles of coppers or crooks - the trend that is usually characteristic to smaller nations, in Scandinavia in particular.

Undercover sets in rather intensely, but then it scatters and wears away somehow, and some standpoints and attitudes are pointed out too often and too strongly, but then the thrill resumes and last two episodes form a real cat-and-mouse play, without becoming too "explosive". True, using flashbacks with a little effort to change the performers' outfit and looks for the period of 20 years brings along unnecessary confusions and disruptions, but all the major performances, however, are good at least, and Maya Cobbina QC by Sophie Okonedo deserves more praise and attention she has achieved so far.

The ending scenes are a bit odd, and the very ending made me the inspiration that another season would be launched, although there is no hint of it so far. Anyway, I would presumably find time for follow-up, but it is okay to cap off here as well. Let the big echelons be more visible in other series... :)

Undercover offers an interesting premise, that is let down by an implausible story.

Without giving too much away, the notion that Undercover is built upon is interesting but its taken to such implausible extremes as to render the whole proposition unbelievable. Worse still and perhaps not surprisingly, the story simply doesn't hold together all that well as a tale of crime, politics and espionage (of a kind) gradually unfolds.The rather flat, abrupt ending, does not help matters either.

Its a shame too, as there is some genuine acting talent on offer, who hand in really excellent performances. Sophie Okonedo, in particular, is to be commended on her heartfelt, passionate performance, as criminal attorney, Maya Corbina.

In short, Undercover is a series I want to like. It has good production values and a quality cast. That said, its story is simply too weak to carry it. Five out of ten from me.

This is a fabulous piece of writing, acting and directing.

It is not "pants" or "not believable" as some people are saying- it is based on extensive research into the long history of the Met Police using undercover cops to spy on a huge number of campaigning groups e.g Greenpeace.

The plot line may have been dramatised- but this is a DRAMA, not claiming to be a total replica of the truth which clearly people have totally misinterpreted.

It is compelling viewing, very well written by Peter Moffat (Silk, Criminal Justice, The Village) and beautifully acted by Sophie Okonedo and Adrian Lester, in particular.

It is one of the only British TV shows to cast the two main characters as black, and I think people are forgetting this.

Don't let patriotic, uneducated reviews put you off people!

Confusing story at first, then starting to become interesting. Unfortunately, despite the excellent acting the plot finally turns out tot be rather weak and unconvincing.

Good acting but the storyline is pants - I simply don't believe this particular story, even though I know undercover agents have married or partnered-up with many women during their 'spying' years. The unalloyed 'goodness' of the principals in this series is cloying and unbelievable. I can't believe they scripted the Waltons in an story about deceit, scorn and cold-blooded treachery. The clunky dialogue just gives it away, badly.

Yes, let's have a seriously deceitful partner, who's spent years undercover with a loving partner, But making that partner Nelson Mandela in drag is a silly and wrong-headed plot device. You gotta get more subtlety and mischief in there for this to work properly. And don't start me on the kids...

All in all it's shame. And a huge opportunity gone sadly to waste. Should have got Jed Mercurio to write this one...