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Inside Man begins with a rather gross man harasing journalist Beth Davenport (Lydia West – Years and Years) on a train, but soon gets his collar felt, with the help of fellow passenger Janice Fife (Dolly Wells – Around The World In 80 Days).
Meanwhile, Stanley Tucci (Jolt) is playing Stanley Tucci, although here, he’s given the ridiculous name of Jefferson Grieff. He’s in prison, on Death Row, along with Dillon Kempton (Atkins Estimond) – who often sits in with Jefferson, in order to ‘record’ for him, since Dillon has a photographic memory and is better than a tape recorder. What Dillon is also good at is informing us of another fact, about how he’s in the clink because he ate his mum’s feet… but “only when she was dead”.
Tucci doesn’t want to appeal his sentence for bumping off his wife, but doesn’t want to be executed, either. Well, he can’t have it both ways, so one day, it will be time to pay the piper. So far, I have only seen episode 1, but I expect it won’t happen before all four episodes are up, as they’ll probably try to go for a second series.
When we get to Tucci’s story, he’s visited by a Senator Claude Kreiner, where he was accused of something else for which there was no proof. Additionally, he’s had money paid into his bank, but he doesn’t know why. It happens every time he and his wife are intimate, and it’s the same amount each time. He needs Tucci’s help to figure out why this is happening, and since Tucci is known as the crime-solving wife-killer, people bring him cases. It’s like he’s Hannibal Lecter, but less bloodthirsty.
Whether or not Kreiner’s cast meets his strict criteria to look into it is a tale in itself, but re-enter Beth, who wants to interview him generally about the cases brought to him.
Change of gear again, and we enter the world of vicar Harry Watling (David Tennant – Doctor Who: Edge of Reality on PS5), who while at work, is asked by younger colleague Edgar (Mark Quartley – Cuffs) to hide his USB stick as he feels his visiting mother, Hilda (Tilly Vosburgh – Damned), might not approve of the contents, but then what overbearing mother approves of anything their offspring might get up to?
After this, Harry’s off home for a few days, but how things transpire once he arrives is something I’ll leave you to discover, since it has to be seen to be believed.
Overall, so far, even though I can see how the disparate events are coming together, Inside Man feels like a mish-mash of things, and more style over substance, not sure whether it wants to be a pop video with Tucci in prison, or crazy drama when another potential case comes along. What I DO know is that this is the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen this year so far.
Inside Man begins on BBC1 on Monday September 26th at 9pm. It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
After each episode is broadcast, it will be on the BBC iPlayer.
Director: Paul McGuigan
Producer: Alex Mercer
Writer: Steven Moffat
Cast:
Jefferson Grieff: Stanley Tucci
Harry Watling: David Tennant
Janice Fife: Dolly Wells
Beth Davenport: Lydia West
Keith: Eke Chukwu
Sergeant Clyde: Boo Golding
Mary Watling: Lyndsey Marshal
Claude Kreiner: Simon Delaney
Ben Watling: Louis Oliver
Dillon Kempton: Atkins Estimond
Casey: Dylan Baker
Edgar: Mark Quartley
Hilda: Tilly Vosburgh
Ricky: Harry Cadby
Nazreen: July Namir
Alice: Victoria Willing
William: Tim Berrington
Faisel: Malek Alkoni
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.