Circles of Deceit: Dark Secret

A former agent being tricked back into business to find out what is going on regarding an old friend and colleague of his blackmailing some unidentified person who has too much to hide. The mysteries are revealed only gradually, and you as an audience are as confused as Dennis Waterman as John Neal who suspects nothing but trusts no one and has reasons not to. His old friend and colleague Jim Caine (Sean McGinley) wants Dennis to cover him in his murky dealings which are too murky for his own or anyone's good. The film begins with a spectacular bank robbery which actually opens the drama, as one of the treasures found are Nazi mementos from the Second World War belonging to a family of very high status. We don't learn that until more than half way into the film, when innocent victims already have started piling up at the morgue. The less said about this M. P.'s progress and means the better, but no brutal murders can completely cover the truth. When Dennis finally takes his leave from his employers he hopes to never see them again. It's a fascinating thriller constantly developing and extremely skilfully written and done, and you just can't afford to miss any detail.

"Circles of Deceit" was a series or a miniseries from the '90s starring Dennis Waterman. It's really middle of the road - not awful, not great.

Waterman is John Neil, who works occasionally for the SAS, being dragged back to work in an earlier episode.

In this one, Neil's employers inform him that a former SAS colleague is not up to something outside the law. They want him to re-befriend him, possibly get in with him, and tell them what he's doing.

Of course, his Controller (Susan Jameson) and her associates have left out a couple of things, so Neil is in the dark. He finds out that a member of Parliament has a dark secret, and people seem to be dying because of it. There will be more deaths before Neil finishes his investigation.

I'm not crazy about Waterman in this type of role - he's very intense, but it seems put on -- a constant frown, a rough voice. As I said in another review, when he's relaxed and doing comedy mixed with drama or vice versa, he's much better. This kind of character isn't his strong suit.

Another, and IMHO the best of the quartet of TV movies starring Dennis Waterman as former SAS man turned reluctant security agent, John Neil. Can't recall any comment about these at the time, and they've been curiously neglected ever since. Yet Dark Secrets is a cracking thriller, competently plotted with an abundance of twists and surprizes.

Neil has to make contact with Jim Caine (Sean McGinley) a former fellow soldier he fought alongside in the Falklands, now turned rogue and suspected of robbing deed boxes from a bank vault, the property of VIPs. Sure enough Caine is blackmailing Harry Summers (Corin Redgrave) a sinister and unscrupulous MP who indeed has plenty to hide. This leads to a series of murders with Neil's life constantly in danger - not least as his highly Machiavellian employers and the government have their own agenda regarding Summers.

Well played and gripping to the end.

Deep and sometimes dark, great story lines. Keeps you glued to the screen never quite knowing where the story will lead you.