Review by bob the moo

Kevin Dobbs is a put upon assistant deputy manager in a high street bank who is run ragged by his manager who then claims credit for his work. A quiet man, Kevin accepts this as all being OK despite day dreaming of more action in his life. The lack of a promotion combined with his boss' refusal to even let him have one day off for his wedding anniversary sees something in him break and decide upon a harder stance in life.

An one off drama for the BBC this film, based upon a short story by Andy McNab and screened in the middle of the day as part of the BBC's occasional afternoon drama specials. I approached it with caution for all these reasons although I did try and keep an open mind to whatever it was that was coming. The film was quite a simple affair but an interesting enough one for the time slot that it was placed in. There is a lack of logic with the scenarios and characters that prevents it becoming anything of interesting depth or being engaging but the very basic structure did make for light entertainment.

O'Dwyer directs with a TV air but seems unsure if he should be playing it for laughs or for something more. This appears to infect Ryan in the lead; he is likable to the point that he holds the interest but although his character changes, he doesn't do anything that good with it. Colman (currently in Hot Fuzz) does the basics alongside him while Ganatra, Murray and a cameo from Donovan all do the same. None of them are bad though and in fairness they do just what the material allows them to do – which is nothing special.

Overall then a simple afternoon drama that has enough about it to act as light entertainment but has nothing in the way of depth to engage or convince me. Distracting daytime fare but nothing more.