Affaire Skripal: l'espion empoisonné

I just watched all of this and was much impressed. It could have been done differently,it could have been a Hollywood movie or it could be less fact based but I think the approach taken was the correct one. The far left Russian apologists and the anti BBC Daily Mail readers seem to have formed a sort of Nazi-Soviet pact to slag off this production. I will give no plot spoilers but having followed the real events in the news when it happened it seems like a fair account of what happened. This is not a glamorous production. The famous tourist attractions of Salisbury are not featured and Anne-Marie Duff should be praised for looking like a real women and not a model in this.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this, such a shocking real life event could have been sensationalised or spun, but credit where it's due, this was very well told.

Very well acted, a top notch production all round, we learn Salisbury's story, what happened to the father and daughter on that fateful day in 2018, but also the effects on beautiful Salisbury and its residents.

It could perhaps have been made into two parts, I think the three installments was perhaps a little overlong, Duff and Spall however made up for that.

It's a shocking, sad story, hard to believe possible in this day and age. The negative reviews are unrealistic, this is a good insight into what happened. 8/10.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

In March of 2018, in the small town of Salisbury in Wiltshire, two Russian spies unleashed a deadly Novichok nerve agent, plunging the town in to a lockdown. Tracey Daszkiewicz (Anne-Marie Duff), the recently appointed local director of Public Health, is thrust in to the spotlight, taking tough decisions in the best interest of her local neighbours and friends, including local DS Nick Bailey (Rafe Spall) who is badly struck down with poisoning, while the situation takes its toll on her home life with her family.

For just under two years now, the whole of the country (and indeed the world) has been forced to adapt to a new way of life, in order to combat the outbreak of a deadly virus, but a couple of years before, in a small town in Wiltshire, a local community was forced to adapt their behaviour to control a situation contained only for them. Even if most of us didn't have to live through it, with the events of the last couple of years, there is at least now a sad air of relatability with this dramatisation of the time by director Saul Dibb.

Initially, in the first episode, Dibb goes for a minimalist, less is more approach, capturing the unfolding events in a docu-drama style fashion, presenting normal, everyday people going about their everyday lives, dealing with their individual problems and dramas, before being thrust in to a major crisis completely out of their control. While this does give it a realistic, outside world feel, it comes at the expense of any real effective character development, leaving us less able to relate and empathise with the characters as we should. He matches the mood and tone of the drama throughout with some appropriate dull, grey lighting, but is less consistent with the character portrayals, which by the second episode have become more screechy and melodramatic.

It's flaws sadly keep it from being the sum of its parts, but it's still elevated by what it gets right, along with some strong, raw lead and supporting performances. ***

It's obvious that the negative comments are coming from certain factions as they're not interested in hearing the human story behind the headlines and only want to debunk the truth. It's not perfect by any means but gives a very good interpretation of the multi agency approach and the difficulties that they had in dealing with this diabolical encroachment on British soil and continue to play their Cold War games not only in the UK but also in Europe. We need to keep telling these stories and expose the threats to our everyday lives by these criminal acts.

This event drew my attention when it happened and I eagerly followed this story, as I had once lived in Salisbury, but not this one. It is pleasing to see that the BBC made a mini-series of this dastardly deed and it certainly filled all the gaps, which were never disclosed in news bulletins.

The production is well done making a thrilling exposé of the happenings and aftermath. A dramatic event well worth seeing to realize that the world is still not a safe place to live in. This event took place just 2 years ago, but the investigation only concluded in 2019.