Inside Man (2022 TV series)
Inside Man is a drama-thriller television serial developed by Steven Moffat. The four-episode series premiered on 26 September 2022, and was broadcast on BBC One. It was released on Netflix in the US on 31 October 2022.[1]
| Inside Man | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Created by | Steven Moffat |
| Directed by | Paul McGuigan |
| Starring | |
| Composer | David Arnold |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 4 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producer | Sue Vertue |
| Running time | 60 minutes |
| Production company | Hartswood Films |
| Release | |
| Original network | |
| Original release | 26 September – 4 October 2022 |
Cast
- David Tennant as Harry Watling, a British vicar forced into a difficult situation
- Stanley Tucci as Jefferson Grieff, a former criminology professor on death row in an Arizona prison
- Dolly Wells as Janice Fife, a mathematics tutor and righteous do-gooder who misinterprets a shocking secret
- Lydia West as Beth Davenport, a muckraking crime journalist
- Lyndsey Marshal as Mary Watling, Harry’s wife
- Dylan Baker as Casey, a prison warden
- Atkins Estimond as Dillon Kempton, a serial killer on death row in Jefferson’s prison who acts as Grieff's assistant
- Louis Oliver as Ben Watling, Harry’s teenage son
- Eke Chukwu as Keith, a guard at the prison
- Kate Dickie as Morag, an acquaintance of Jefferson’s in England
- Mark Quartley as Edgar, Harry’s deeply troubled verger
- Tilly Vosburgh as Hilda, Edgar’s mother
- Boo Golding as DS Clyde
Production
Filming locations included St Andrew's Church in Farnham, Godalming Railway Station, Godalming, outside the Beehive Pub in Bedfont Middlesex, Broad Street in Wokingham and Welcome Break Fleet Services in Fleet.[2]
Episodes
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Episode 1" | Paul McGuigan | Steven Moffat | 26 September 2022 | 3.93 | |
| Former law lecturer Jefferson Grieff is on death row for killing his wife. He gives advice on cold cases. Reverend Harry Watling picks up his teenaged son’s mathematics tutor Janice Fife from the station where she has helped journalist Beth Davenport out of a harassing situation on the subway. Watling reluctantly accepted a memory stick with porn from Edgar – a suicidal parishioner who was hiding it from his overbearing mother. When Watling enters his house, he drops his keys and the memory stick in a dish. His son Ben hands the stick to Janice, who can't get the computer to work. She sees the porn, which comprises child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Ben returns to ask for it back – not knowing it is CSAM – explaining that it's his memory stick and not his father's. Janice confronts Watling, who strongly denies that the stick belongs to his son but won't explain whose it is, as he will handle the issue. Janice insists it is Ben's and she is reporting him to the police. Not wanting his innocent son to be accused of being a paedophile, Watling ends up assaulting Janice in his attempts to stop her from leaving the house. She ends up locked in the cellar. | ||||||
| 2 | "Episode 2" | Paul McGuigan | Steven Moffat | 27 September 2022 | 3.09 | |
| Journalist Beth visits death-row Grieff in prison for an article. She returns when she gets an odd message from her acquaintance Janice, who she fears may have disappeared. Grieff tests her and says she can observe the next case and write about it as long as she never mentions Janice to him again. Beth reluctantly agrees and is then sent out to perform tasks to solve the next case. Vicar Watling and his wife, Mary, aren’t sure what to do with Janice in their basement. Surprisingly, Janice offers suggestions on how to get away with murder; they need her help. She has also cut herself and bled all over the cellar, so when the police investigate and find her diary and see her last appointment was at the vicarage, there will be evidence. Watling tries to get Edgar to confess that the CSAM memory stick is his and record it, but Edgar, fearing the wrath of his mother, lies. Edgar is very distressed, and Watling decides to take the blame for the memory stick to spare his son, Ben, and the vulnerable Edgar from being investigated (and presumably sparing himself from having to kill Janice). But Edgar goes home and hangs himself, leaving a note that says, "Don't believe the vicar is a paedo. He's protecting someone else." | ||||||
| 3 | "Episode 3" | Paul McGuigan | Steven Moffat | 3 October 2022 | 3.32 | |
| Grieff is informed that his execution date has been set for three weeks from now. Beth travels to Britain and meets with a contact of Grieff's to follow up leads on Janice. Watling is visited by the police regarding Edgar's suicide note, but the phrasing of the note leaves it ambiguous as to whether he was protecting/accusing Ben, Edgar or someone else. With access to Janice's password, Mary drafts an e-mail to send to Janice's sister to cancel her next Skype call, claiming to be on a walking trip for a week in order to create an alibi for her disappearance. Grieff volunteers to provide the location of his wife's head - having mutilated her body and hidden the head in an undisclosed location - in exchange for a stay of execution. Watling forces his wife to leave the house with the intention of killing Janice by suffocating her with a leaking gas heater, but he is unaware that Ben found Janice in the basement and has now been locked in with her after Watling secured the door. Mary realizes that she has made a serious error by sending the alibi e-mail to Janice's sister. | ||||||
| 4 | "Episode 4" | Paul McGuigan | Steven Moffat | 4 October 2022 | 3.18 | |
| Grieff talks with his former father-in-law, offering to give him the location of his daughter's head in exchange for the man using his criminal contacts to ensure a stay of execution. Grieff is beaten into confessing, but the warden uses the tape of the beating to ensure that Grieff receives his extension. As Janice tries to get Ben to call the police while insisting that he cannot trust his parents, Mary calls Watling and explains that they need to find some way to deal with the laptop or the police will question how Janice sent the e-mail in the first place. Watling passes Mary the laptop through the window. Loaded up with Janice's laptop, purse, and jacket, Mary discovers Janice's house keys in her jacket pocket. When she goes to leave her belongings in Janice's flat, Mary runs into Beth, who has been led there by one of Grieff's associates. When Mary receives a call from Ben, she is able to explain the essentials of the situation regarding the CSAM memory stick, but in a subsequent argument with Beth, Mary frantically walks backwards into the street and is struck dead by a lorry. Back in the basement, Ben becomes agitated by the carbon monoxide poisoning of the faulty gas heater whilst questioning Janice's initial actions and ends up hitting her in the head with a hammer just before his father can get back into the basement. Watling offers to take the blame, planning to kill Janice even when she is revealed to still be alive, but Beth intercepts him just as he attempts to deliver the blow. In a final Skype call between Grieff and Watling, Grieff explains that he worked out Watling was involved since Janice was last known to be visiting his vicar's house, and they never filed a missing person's report, although he admits that he was guessing. With just two weeks to go until his execution, Grieff suggests he may tell the imprisoned Watling exactly why he killed his wife someday since they share a unique bond, observing that Watling's wife is dead because of the events that he, the vicar, set in motion. In a post-credits scene, Grieff is visited by Janice, who asks for his help in murdering her husband, who is implied to have faked his death and/or wronged her before that. When Janice points out that Grieff is unsurprised by her request, he acknowledges that, on death row, everyone is a murderer. | ||||||
Reception
Critical reception
Inside Man was rated 65% certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. Top critic Graeme Blundell from The Australian writes, "It's superbly acted by a bunch of experienced actors who know just what kind of heightened style is required here, directed in immersive style by the accomplished McGuigan, and thoroughly enjoyable. Just hold that wine glass." Charles Hartford from A Geek Community writes, "Inside Man Season 1 delivers a gripping tale that is well worth its short, four-hour runtime...The series pulls the viewer into its depths as it explores how far people will go when they are caught in the wrong place at the wrong time." The Guardian described it as being a "funny and typically meaty mystery from Steven Moffat".[3] Pat Stacey, writing in the Irish Independent said, "Probably the most foolish scene of all came in Tuesday’s finale when Mary threatens journalist Beth (Lydia West) ... with a breadknife while making 'whoosh' sounds. This nudged Inside Man into full-blown sitcom territory. Strange, that, since Moffat seemed to want to say something serious about human nature and people's capacity for violence."[4] Anita Singh of The Daily Telegraph said, "Moffat can throw any amount of good lines or clever little plot twists into this show, but it is built on a flaw so fundamental that it's impossible to get past it."[5]
The series features Steven Moffat's own son, Louis Oliver, whose performance was described by Radio Times as "show stealing".[4][6]
Viewing figures
The first episode was watched 5,028,000 times on iPlayer alone during 2022, making it the 7th most viewed individual programme on the platform that year.[7]
References
- Moore, Kasey (10 October 2022). "'Inside Man' BBC Series Sets October 2022 Netflix Release Date". What's on Netflix. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
- "Inside Man filming locations - St Andrew's Church - Find That Location".
- "Inside Man review – Stanley Tucci goes full Hannibal Lecter in rollicking death row drama". The Guardian. 26 September 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - Stacey, Pat (5 October 2022). "Inside Man review: Silliness swamps thrills in a deeply foolish finale". Irish Independent. Retrieved 5 October 2022.
- Singh, Anita (3 October 2022). "Inside Man, episode 3, review: The bizarre choices of David Tennant's vicar are impossible to overlook". The Telegraph.
- "Inside Man star's real-life son appears in new BBC drama – get the details". 26 September 2022.
- "World Cup wins 2022 in record breaking year for BBC iPlayer". BBC Media Centre. 31 January 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2023.
External links
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