LONDON SPY: New BBC Gay Thriller w/ Ben Whishaw & Charlotte Rampling

[HorseTears]

Posted: 11/23/15 at 5:54am

Any UK people watching on BBC2? This looks really good. I'm going to hold off on trying to watch it online w/ "Hola" since it's apparently coming to BBC America soon. Great cast. Ben Whishaw, Charlotte Rampling, Jim Broadbent. And, yes, I know it's not a "gay thriller," but a thriller that happens to feature some gay characters, but that was a bit long for the thread title. Besides, we get so few well written tv shows with lead gay characters, that it's still worth taking note when [it looks like] one is passing by.  

 

 

 

 

New original co-production, London Spy, is a five-part miniseries created by acclaimed best-selling author Tom Rob Smith (Child 44), co-produced with BBC Two and produced by Working Title Television. It will air on BBC America in 2015.

 

The gripping, contemporary, emotional thriller stars Ben Whishaw (The Hour, Skyfall, Bright Star) as Danny, an innocent, young romantic drawn into a dangerous world of espionage. He is joined by Academy Award-winning Jim Broadbent (Moulin Rouge!, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Harry Potter), British actress Charlotte Rampling OBE, whose recent role in Restless in 2012 saw her receive an Emmy Award nomination, and newcomer Edward Holcroft (Wolf Hall).

 

London Spy is directed by Jakob Verbruggen, whose credits include The Fall and the US version of The Bridge.

 

On his first television drama, creator and writer Tom Rob Smith says: “London Spy has gathered an exceptional cast and a visionary director. I couldn’t be more excited, or proud.”

 

Juliette Howell, Head of Television at Working Title Television, says: “Working Title couldn’t be more proud to be producing this captivating drama. Incredible scripts, a hugely gifted director and a world-class cast; London Spy exudes quality through and through.”

 

London Spy is the story of a chance romance between two people from very different worlds, one from the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service, the other from a world of clubbing and youthful excess. Danny (Whishaw) – gregarious, hedonistic, romantic and adrift, falls for the anti-social enigmatic and brilliant Alex (Holcroft). Just as the two of them realize that they’re perfect for each other, Alex disappears. Danny, utterly ill-equipped to take on the complex and codified world of British espionage, must decide whether he’s prepared to fight for the truth.

 

Tom Rob Smith’s award-winning Child 44 trilogy was an international publishing sensation and has been turned into a movie with Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman and Noomi Rapace, produced by Ridley Scott, scheduled for release in April 2015.

 

London Spy is produced by Guy Heeley, and executive producers are Tom Rob Smith, Juliette Howell, Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner for Working Title Television, and Head of Independent Drama Commissioning, Polly Hill, for BBC Two. The miniseries will be distributed by NBC Universal and BBC Worldwide.

[VeraCharles3]

Posted: 11/23/15 at 7:34am

Hi HorseTears

I am watching, here in the UK. Episode 3 tonight.

It is very good. I don't want to say "slow" as it is very gripping but it has a meassured pace and is quite creepy and sinister.

Ben whishaw is excellent as always.

I hope you enjoy it if you watch

x

[Huss417]

Posted: 11/23/15 at 9:09am

So far I have the first two episodes. Was going to wait till they all have aired and binge but might check it out this week.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 11/23/15 at 1:07pm

I've watched the first two episodes and I'm HOOKED. I loved the build up of their relationship in the first episode and was glad they sustained the suspense throughout the second up until the mother reveal. Ben Whishaw is one of my top five guys so I love watching him whenever I can. Jim Broadbent is amazing. When I watch shows from BBC I think of the inevitable US remake but I think it's safe to say this will never make it to this side of the pond (thankfully).

[Scripps2]

Posted: 11/23/15 at 5:41pm

Compulsive viewing.

 

And interesting to see if the fiction informs the bizarre, unsolved, presumed murder of a code-breaker in a very similar real case:

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10455268/Spy-in-bag-Gareth-Williams-did-not-get-into-holdall-alone-say-experts.html

Updated On: 11/23/15 at 05:41 PM

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 11/24/15 at 12:50pm

How much is Charlotte Rampling actually in it? She's not a "series regular", right?

 

I'm really looking forward to seeing this at some point.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 11/24/15 at 7:54pm

It's a mini-series of 5 episodes.  Rampling only appeared in episode 2 thus far.  I was sucked in from the first episode and it has not failed at being compelling.  I'm eagerly awaiting to see how it plays out.  Excellent writing, direction and performances all around.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 11/24/15 at 10:45pm

I have been meaning to check it out and will get on that. I came across it due to Huff's piece on the backlash to a review from the good old Daily Mail which opened by complaining that you could not avoid gay sex on the BBC http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/8519876

[Hulmeman]

Posted: 11/27/15 at 7:08pm

This is playing on two levels to me. First of all a gripping thriller with gay characters and brilliant performances (In episode 3 Jim Broadbent has a wonderful monologue). The second level for me is the sight of Ben Whishaw humping. There's no genteel way of putting that second level!

[The Glenbuck Laird]

Posted: 12/3/15 at 3:53pm

If you live your life by watching everything Ben Whishaw does then you won't go far wrong

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 12/3/15 at 4:15pm

I was kind of mixed about this week's episode. The phone call scene was very tense and had me on the edge of my couch. Once we learned what Alex was up to it kind of lost me. The ending was insane as usual and I'm interested to see how they wrap everything up.

 

Charlotte Rampling has only been in the second episode so far but according to IMDB she's in one more. If you're going into the show solely for her then you might be disappointed.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/3/15 at 5:36pm

Once we learned what Alex was up to it kind of lost me.

 

Did you believe that story was the truth?  Nothing thus far in the show led me to believe it was.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 2:30pm

It's interesting to split out the facts (from the real life case I linked) from the fiction: a lot of the fiction seems to be less bizarre and more unsatisfying. But I'm pre-empting the resolution here and I shouldn't.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 12/9/15 at 6:26pm

This week's episode was pretty Rampling heavy and it seems like the finale will include her involvement as well. 

 

For those waiting for the BBC America premiere, it will begin airing on Thursday, Jan. 21, at 10/9c.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 3:44pm

This week's episode WAS the finale.  And for me, it was pretty disappointing.  It just didn't add up.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 4:03pm

Oh my bad. For some reason I was thinking the series was 6 episodes instead of 5. In that case I pretty much hated the ending. Super anticlimactic. 

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 4:15pm

Spoilers throughout!

Yeah the last two episodes (especially the finale) left me a lot less thrilled than I was with the first three...

A lot of details that seemed vague or to at least rely on the spy agencies assuming that Danny would do a lot (I mean honestly, if I was in his shoes and searching my missing boyfriend's empty apartment I might not even notice the leaky water from the ceiling that leads to the discovery of the attic--though I suppose at some point the police would.)  Others seemed baffled by the American who gave him the HIV medication pill--obviously he was planted there so Danny would find out he contacted the drug but what seemed odder to me was that his, otherwise oblivious seeming roomie was the one who found the ONE pill (where was he keeping it?) and she instantly knew it was HIV related drugs.  But more genuinely laughable was his scene in the HIV support group where he told his whole spy story and not one person reacted with even a weird look.

I am still really glad I watched the show--even the WTF moments had me wrapped up in it (I was genuinely worried at one point in the finale it would turn out Danny was schizophrenic or something and had created Alex, or some other "it was all in his head" outcome) but...  Yeah I dunno.  And the tone of the final scene with WHishaw and Rampling--with fast pace spy music--driving off felt all kinds of weird.  Maybe the last two scripts, especially the finale, could have done with a rewrite or something.  (BTW the writer on twitter hasn't completely dropped the idea of a second season but given not great ratings, a high profile cast and how polarizing the viewers took the finale, I can't see it.) 

 

This excerpt from the Telegraph review of the show as a whole basically states it better than I could: "Benji Wilson in the Daily Telegraph called it "wonderful and infuriating in equal measure..Has there ever been a television series that's frustrated as much as London Spy (BBC 2)? Over five weeks this contemporary thriller has scaled giddy heights and then plumbed ludicrous depths, gone from being completely gripping to turgid as hell, thrown up single scenes of startling brilliance then followed them with some preposterous self-indulgence…London Spy's potentially great script was in desperate need of some doughty editing. Its central love story was brilliantly imagined, some of the camerawork was revelatory and Whishaw, once again, staked a claim to be recognised as the best actor of his generation. Yet too often it was loosely plotted, and tonally haphazard too.""

 

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 4:30pm

***SPOILERS***

 

 

 

What truly made no sense to me was the elaborate means by which "they" used to erase external evidence of the algorithm without simply killing the expendable young man and taking it from him once they knew he had it.  All the stuff about mailing the packages, sending emails and his visit to his parents seriously undercut everything that preceded it.  And everything afterwards just seemed silly to me.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 12/10/15 at 4:53pm

SPOILERS

 

 

 

 

I know all of the world's spy agencies were in on it but how did they steal all the packages and replace them with blank pages--it just confused me.  As did a lot of details in the later episodes which were meant to be significant but I failed to grasp (like why did Danny give his new, fractured family picture to Alex-Mom?  I mean I guess it was supposed to show he saw her family was fractured too and then he realizes the maid is the mom but... wha?)  Killing off Scotty I think was a mistake as well--especially since only moments earlier it seemed we had saw him, with new conviction, say he wanted to see this till the end.  I get that they did it again to threaten Danny, and that the writer's intention was that Danny can't be killed because it would look too suspicious given his "fame" thanks to the newspaper article but again all of that was mighty obscure and vague.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 12/12/15 at 5:23pm

I was already anticipating being disappointed by the ending with my previous post but, in the end, it was far worse than I anticipated: ridiculous and incredible. It went to pieces as Jim Broadbent's character was written out.

 

The awful truth of the story was bizarre and compelling but the fiction that was bolted on to it became increasingly ludicrous and weakly poorly contrived; I guess the clue was in the unimaginative and adolescent title all along.