Betrayal sees John Hughes… no, not that one… he sadly passed away in 2009…
but this one is played by Shaun Evans (Until I Kill You), and his character works for MI5, where he’s having a very bad day at work, and to make matters worse, he’s missing his marriage counselling appointment with the missus, Claire (Romola Garai – The Critic).
Before you can blink, drugs have gone missing in Stockport… YES! Stockport gets a namecheck! It’s usually just Manchester, although occasionally Stockport gets a showing in the occasional Harlan Coben drama, like The Stranger.
As for the location of the drugs, they’re probably where all the chavvy Tommeh flags hang badly from lamp posts, still not being brough down after the rain lashes down on them.
I’ll avoid spoilers obviously, but it’s safe to say that joining John in his pursuit of the baddies and their illicit substances is MI6’s Mehreen (Zahra Ahmadi – Innocent), although the wife doesn’t like him working with other women, so her nose feels a bit pushed out of joint.
But before she comes into the picture too much, there’s a scene set in what’s referred to as “Stockport City car park“… which turns out to be the main Merseyway car park, and since it’s empty, I’m guessing they filmed it before or after Sunday shopping. And on a rare day when there was sunshine.
But… Stockport is a TOWN, and NOT a city. Or is it the new Berlin? It’s so difficult to keep track!
Oh, and this drama also features cartoon-like baddies who use a knife to cut… an apple, which rather reminds me of Toht in Raiders of the Lost Ark brandishing a set of nunchuks… to hang his coat up.
Still, while I’ll add more as the series goes on, Betrayal is enjoyable fluff, and certainly a damn sight better than BBC1’s Lord of the Flies, which is on at the same time.
Thanks to our friends at ITV for the screener prior to release.
Betrayal begins tonight on ITV at 9pm, and then will be available to stream on ITVX.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Director: Julian Jarrold
Producers: David Eldridge, Irma Inniss, Tom Leggett
Writer: David Eldridge
Music: Adrian Johnston
Cast:
John Hughes; Shaun Evans
Claire Wardly: Romola Garai
Simone Grant: Nikki Amuka-Bird
Mehreen Askari-Evans: Zahra Ahmadi
Jordan Ainsworth: Aidan Rivers
Craig Beeston: Anthony Flanagan
Eve Hardy: Emma Cunniffe
Ehsan Taremi: Waj Ali
Ian Blakefield: Ashley Zhangazha
Marta Vasilescu: Eliza Agrosoaie
Kit Wardly-Hughes: Albie Wickstone
Chloe Wardly-Hughes: Maggie Livermore
Sardar Farahani: Karim Kadjar
The General: Omid Djalili
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.