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Temple stars Mark Strong as surgeon Daniel Milton, whose wife, Beth (Catherine McCormack), has died and this leads him to running an operating room from underneath the Temple Underground station in London, which is a perfectly natural reaction, yes?
However, there are some people who can’t wait to be top of the NHS waiting list, and don’t want to go private, so if you have a problem, and you need an operation, maybe you can hire… Daniel Milton.
And if you’ve seen Mel Gibson’s brilliant 1999 film Payback, you’ll get an idea of the state of Milton’s operating theatre with Mel’s opening line in that film: “GSW: that’s what the hospitals call it: gunshot wound. Doctor has to report it to the police. That makes it hard for guys in my line to get what I call, quality health care.”
It’s not long before he gets his first customer as a young man involved in a heist ends up with a bullet in his belly for his trouble. You get to see the operation taking place – albeit from a slight distance, so if you’re feeling queasy, then bear in mind that while this is broadcast at 9pm and just slightly after you might’ve eaten dinner, it’s available to watch on demand, so you can tuck in and THEN watch the the program after your food has gone down, at your convenience! 😀
I am normally not queasy, but with Milton’s quick work on the job, I was starting to flinch a bit!
And if Mark Strong said to you, “Can you meet me at Temple tube station? It’s a matter of life and death” – as we see in the trailer, you’d fill your pants!
Of course, what I don’t want to do is give any spoilers, so all I’ll say is that after the first two episodes, it has a crazy-daft premise, and all the key cast members are on top form, with Strong as reliable as ever (and as omnipresent, making him seem like the British answer to Stanley Tucci), plus Daniel Mays as his partner in crime, and Carice van Houten as his hospital colleague, Anna. There’s also some flashback scenes to help fill in the backstory.
And what I didn’t realise until I saw the closing credits, is that this is based on the 2017 Norwegian TV series Valkyrien. Given that the premise of that drama’s first episode is identical to this one, I’ll steer clear of reading more while I watch this.
UPDATE: I’ve now seen the whole series and it’s a solid 8/10 all the way through. Some have said that it’s too slow to sustain 8 episodes. I reckon it was just the right length, but it tells a great story with some occasional daft moments and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Roll on Series 2!
Temple sees all episodes available on Sky on Friday September 13th, and the series is available to pre-order on DVD, ahead of its release on November 18th.
Overall: 8/10
Widescreen: 2.00:1
Series Directors: Shariff Korver, Lisa Siwe, Luke Snellin
Series Writers: Mark O’Rowe, Erik Richter Strand
Cast:
Daniel Milton: Mark Strong
Lee Simmons: Daniel Mays
Anna Willems: Carice van Houten
Eve Milton: Lily Newmark
Beth Milton: Catherine McCormack
Eleanor: Kate Dickie
George: Donald Sumpter
Barry: Malcolm Storry
Lydia: Kathryn Pogson
Dr Copefield: Diveen Henry
Victor: Ross Boatman
Jamie Harris: Tobi King Bakare
Karen Hall: Chloe Pirrie
Mercy King: Wunmi Mosaku
Keith Sullivan: Craig Parkinson
Gloria Wilson: Claire Rushbrook
Michelle Wilson: Siena Kelly
Sebastian King: Theo Solomon
Thief: Andrew Richard Bryant
Jim: Robert Gilbert
Bill: Daniel Betts
Woman in car: Nia Gwynne
Ingrid: Marion Bailey
Eve: Lily Newmark
Office Staff: Hiten Patel
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.