Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Cast: Stephen Graham, Dean-Charles Chapman, Leanne Best, Jason Flemyng, Andrew Ellis, Bobby Schofield, Jodie Prenger, Ryan Mcken, Shvorne Marks, Chris Coghill, Molly McGlynn, Paul Brown, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Kate Robins, Danny Cunningham, Richard Hope, Nicola Stephenson, Bryony Corrigan, Gary Oliver, Dean Lennox Kelly.
Extremists of any background are a danger to the country, not just our own, but around the world, if you have to even raise more than your voice in defence of your political position then you have lost the argument, you have lost the right to be seen as civilised and part of the system.
Much has been made in recent years of extremist views that are said to be against the country’s long held history, and possibly right so, but there is, as the tremendously researched and as near meticulously written from history’s stand, The Walk In, shows, it is the naked aggression of the home grown radical, those that want to see England returned to a state of white supremacy, that are the most dangerous, the ones to whom we should see as the most disturbing reflection of the political turmoil placed upon this country as Brexit and the belief that the solving of our problems comes from treating others with disdain and threats against their lives.
Yes, there is evil in any person’s heart, that which they fear can scar them, if you grew up in certain areas during the 1970s then to be Irish was tantamount to be seen as supporting the IRA, to be Jewish is seen as robbing the nation, to be gay, lesbian, transgender or any colour of the rainbow was to be beaten by those who saw it as a threat to their gender or sexual orientation; but as the country took young German Jewish children in to escape the horrors of that endorsed by the insidious evil and wickedness of the Nazi regime, so we must accept that the world must see us as turning our backs on the far right, that on mass we must be the member of the public willing to be the walk in, the one to say no to death and horror prescribed by the unthinking and the uneducated.
Jeff Pope’s five-part series is one that chills the soul, the stark realisation that there are people out there plotting to murder democratically elected M.P.s, who will burn down a detention centre just because they find immigration abhorrent, and that it takes courage to say no, and whilst the protagonist of the piece Robbie Mullen, played with great care by Andrew Ellis is seen to still hold certain values that are fiercely disgusting, he at least, in Jeff Pope’s eyes, earns some redemption.
The Walk In is eye-opening, especially if you have your head tucked down believing that sanity will always prevail, and with superb performances by Stephen Graham as Matthew Collins, former far right leading antagonist and supporter but now working for Hope Not Hate, Bobby Schofield as Matt Hankinson, Dean-Charles Chapman, and the ever engaging Leanne Best as arguably the most heroic figure of them all, Alison Collins; what the viewer is left in no doubt is that whilst some will go to their graves with hate seared on the hearts, there is always a way to shine a torch into a soul and have them change their minds for the better.
Jeff Pope at his finest, The Walk In is television and journalism working together with determination and polish.
Ian D. Hall