Set in an unnamed northern city our protagonist is Daniel Demoys; a city councillor and an alcoholic. One night Demoys goes out to a bar, meets up with the woman he is having an affair with before meeting up with Henry Pulis, a man whose company is bidding for a major contract. In the morning Demoys wakes to find himself covered in blood; he has no recollection how it got to be there though. When he learns that Pulis is critically injured in hospital following a violent assault he can only believe he did it; later Pulis dies. He knows that it is only a matter of time before the police catch him so he goes to see his sister who is a lawyer. He approaches her as her client; a boy who stood up to testify in an important trial comes out of court; Demoys sees a gun emerge from a passing car and throws himself in front of the boy; he is shot and wounded but now he is a hero. His friend Jerry tells him that he is just what the city needs and urges him to stand for the new post of mayor
when he gets the job he learns that there is a reason that certain powerful people wanted him in the job; they want somebody they can control and with Pulis' death hanging over him he has little choice about what to do.
This was a fairly solid three part drama with a conclusion that could be seen to wrap things up but equally left enough loose ends for there to be a second series if the creators choose to make one. The acting was solid; Christopher Eccleston did particularly well as Demoys; a man on the edge whose life was collapsing long before the series began. Filmed in Manchester with almost permanent rain there was a fairly oppressive feel to the show as the viewer wonders whether or not Demoys really killed Pulis; flashbacks may suggest he did but are we seeing what happened or just what a drunk suffering from a blackout thinks he remembers? The danger feels real, both in the sense that he could be caught and in the sense that he could be harmed; we see a police officer who is investigating the case run over and left for dead so it seems likely Demoys and his family could be in danger too.
While I suspect that the end of the third episode is the end of the overall series I wouldn't be disappointed if it emerged that there was more to come as I was left wondering what happened to several characters.
This was a fairly solid three part drama with a conclusion that could be seen to wrap things up but equally left enough loose ends for there to be a second series if the creators choose to make one. The acting was solid; Christopher Eccleston did particularly well as Demoys; a man on the edge whose life was collapsing long before the series began. Filmed in Manchester with almost permanent rain there was a fairly oppressive feel to the show as the viewer wonders whether or not Demoys really killed Pulis; flashbacks may suggest he did but are we seeing what happened or just what a drunk suffering from a blackout thinks he remembers? The danger feels real, both in the sense that he could be caught and in the sense that he could be harmed; we see a police officer who is investigating the case run over and left for dead so it seems likely Demoys and his family could be in danger too.
While I suspect that the end of the third episode is the end of the overall series I wouldn't be disappointed if it emerged that there was more to come as I was left wondering what happened to several characters.