Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: James Nesbitt, Imogen King, Sacha Dhawan, Sam Heughan, Antonia Thomas, Richard E. Grant, Joely Richardson, Niamh Algar, Anne-Marie Duff, Ben Miller, Tabitha Green, Adam Kiani, Adele Marie, Alexander F. James.
Originality is a scarce commodity, and even then, the chances are it has been done before, but that doesn’t stop the belief that what you are witnessing is a novel approach to an age-old problem, that of how to entertain, educate, and inform, whilst keeping the attention of the one who has invested their time in your product, in your story.
The question of originality is not at the heart of Matt Baker’s eight-part drama Suspect, but it does, with thanks to a terrific sense of direction by Dries Vos, it has a sense of its own place in television history, one arguably driven by the circumstances that has plagued us all over the last couple of years, one framed by the sheer talent on screen who give tremendously rich performances, and one that the lead of James Nesbitt, playing grieving father Danny Frater, has made a speciality of performing.
Told over the space of one day, Suspect brings home the horror of losing a child to what seems initially as a suicide, but proves to be more complex, more damaging to the already fragile psyche of the parent: and one that is complicated by the presence of the detective’s sense of duty, not only to the job, but because it is his daughter that has been murdered.
Suspect, whether down to circumstances or just inspired writing, sees the plot unfold over the course of eight episodes, one in which James Nesbitt appears throughout but which, in the course of his investigation sees the range of suspects protest their innocence in a one-off appearance.
The framing of the series is such that it reads as one of Noir elegance, shadows and confrontation of truth, and it works in tandem with dramatic poise laid down by the likes of the elegant Richard E. Grant, the exciting and rising star that is Niamh Algar, and Sacha Dhawan in a role that truly captures his ability to focus on the dark and dangerous heartbeat of the cunning character he has come to inhabit.
It is though to James Nesbitt in a role that may be expected, that is on par with others that he has played in his long career, but to which he seems to bring a spark of fear to, the shear gut wrenching sincerity derived from the position of the series of being a man with nothing left to lose at all; it is fierce, it is distress, and alarm caught in one powerful performance.
Not your usual Suspect, but one presented with honour, a gripping serial told in intricate and minute form. A tremendous watch.
Ian D. Hall