Unlike another reviewer, I didn't make it to the half hour
mark. I only lasted twenty-five minutes. In my defence, each minute
felt like an hour.
Jim Sturgess has the lead and is particularly awful, putting on an
accent and a tone that are horrible to listen to, phony and
irritating at once, as if he were copying a Cockney doing a bad
imitation of a toff. His voice in this is completely unbearable –
and as he was heavily featured in most of the first twenty-five
minutes, you'll see why I had to give up.
There are so many actors
out there who could achieve a posh accent or already have one (George
Blagden, Alex Vlahos, Clive Standen to name a few) that it seems
stupid to cast one who can't deliver (although maybe anyone who
could, read the script and said 'No thanks'). And is it me or is Alfred Molina always exactly the same?
It's not all his fault
though as I often persevere longer with dramas where there's one
annoying character, if the script, plot, other characters hold my
interest. This is not the case here.
I've enjoyed Poliakoff in the
distant past (certainly not recently) but perhaps he's had his day.
It annoys me that the BBC has spent our money on something else so
turgid and tiresome.
