When a plot requires unbelievable coincidences to drive it forward it risks breaking the viewers immersion, 'what's the chances of that happening!??', we wonder. Desperate Measures does this again and again, in fact I counted five consecutive major plot points all occurring in a single day within the story that included massively unlikely coincidences.
The plot then, is utter nonsense.
'So what?' some reviewers react...'it's not a documentary!'. No, it's not, but isn't a central reason we watch drama the desire to immerse ourselves in a fiction? If the writing pulls us out of this immersion, it's not working is it?
As for the acting, it's a mixed bag, the lead character, Rowan, is played by Abigail Abbington and she does a decent job, managing to just about keep a straight face and make the most of some pretty flat and uninspired dialogue. Sunetra Sarker is okay too, as Rowan's best friend and work colleague. The main 'baddy' looked like an emaciated Mr Bean and was about as intimidating, whilst the detective, played by Jonathan Nyati, might have been aiming for a 'strong, silent type' but was simply wooden and dull.
On the plus side, the whole thing rattles along at a reasonable pace and is entertaining. Whilst the lack of believability means an almost total lack of tension, I did still want to know how the story would resolve itself.
One of the reasons I write reviews is to keep track of what I watch and remind myself how I reacted to it. I have a suspicion that Desperate Measures is one of those mini-series that, in six months time, I will struggle to remember a single thing about. Maybe that's a reflection of my ailing memory but more likely this is symptomatic of a genre partially designed like fast food - don't think about it too much, just consume and enjoy in the moment.
