Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Robert Carlyle, Victoria Hamilton, Richard Dormer, David Haig, Marisa Abela, Emmanuel Imani, Lucy Cohu, Daz Morland, Con O’Neill, Charlie Carrick, Leigh Remnant, Paul Whelligan, Steven Cree, Alexandre Willaume, Grace Hogg-Robinson, Mark Bazeley, Lee Byford, Jem Hawkes, Leeds Paul, Joshua Hogan, Jennifer Bulcock, Lisa Palfrey, Danny Ashok, Ian Attard, Chris Wilson, Edward Bennett, Ellie Kendrick, Vera Chock, Damien Speed, Molly McGlynn, Max Parker, Yemisi Oyinloye, Caroline Hayes, Denise Moreno, Amber Aga, Christopher Ben, Jamie Causer, Jonathan Harden.
We see what we want from those who occupy the positions of power, human nature exists in the absence of folly regardless of what we think of the incumbent, doing the hardest job possible or a person who joins in with the other snouts in the trough that serves only those with enough privilege behind them. That mindset comes from our own belief and ego, we can do better, I would do this, and arguably most of us could do a finer job of running the country, given the resources, the patience and the stroke of luck that carries many, the defining moment which sets out who we are when we have the world at our disposal.
It is in the natural disaster, the unforeseen and unknowable which really marks out a leader of people, the split decision, the truth behind the action, anyone can say they are going to get the power on when the electricity fails, delivering the promise is another act altogether; and then in amongst it all the nature of that folly becomes clear; you make the country work but the pay-off is that some will despise you, some will spit in your face, others will laugh at your efforts, and the whole process of leadership, especially in a time where the instant opinions of social media funnels its anger at you, begins again and again.
Ben Richards’ measured and insightful six-part drama, Cobra, casts a perfectly reasoned eye on the nature of Government within Government as outside influences caused by a solar storm brings parts of the U.K. to its knees and the fallout of society begins.
Whilst the idea might seem far-fetched, the response would be deemed to conclusive and as political opportunists gather in their droves, as the ordinary person in their homes and on the street suffers, so it is that the question of the elite, in all its guises and opinions, that those with an axe to grind and acts of sabotage to administer, will join forces and create what can only be described as dogmatic chaos.
When the whole world hates you for no other reason that you were doing the job you were elected to do, then you fight back the hardest, and it is too that end that the political machinations described in Ben Richards’ tale of politics, damnation and upheaval come to light; and with polished performances by Robert Carlyle as Prime Minister Robert Sutherland, Victoria Hamilton as his aide Anna Marshall, Charlie Carrick as Scott and the ever marvellous David Haig as the underhanded and scheming Home Secretary Archie Glover-Morgan, Cobra shows just how far you have to go, even in a national emergency, to retain the decency to carry out a promise. Cobra is much more than power; it is the will to do the one right thing at the possible cost of everything else falling apart.
A decently portrayed examination of the power under the stairs and behind closed doors.
Ian D. Hall