The new Netflix hit is an enjoyably silly show with a central conceit that may leave viewers feeling uneasy, writes Catherine McGregor.
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The lowdown
In a leafy English village, a vicar and his son’s maths tutor have an altercation that spirals into a disaster for each of them. In a desert state somewhere in America, a convicted murderer fills his days solving crimes as he awaits his execution date. These two very different worlds collide when a British journalist visits the prison, prompting a trans-Atlantic investigation into her missing friend.
Written by Sherlock co-creator Stephen Moffat and starring Stanley Tucci, David Tennant and Dolly Wells, the four-episode Inside Man was made for the BBC and is screening on Netflix outside the UK.
Spoilers for episode one of Inside Man start here.
The good
Spare a thought for the bumbling kidnapper. As Disney+’s The Patient so artfully demonstrated just recently, a captive you don’t want to kill but don’t dare release poses a dilemma that inevitably leads to regrettable decisions and a violent end for at least one of you. For vicar Harry (Tennant), his spur-of-the-moment kidnapping of Janice (Wells) is a disaster that gets worse and worse; one of Inside Man’s great pleasures is the way Harry and his wife Mary (Lyndsey Marshall) struggle to hold it together as their pleasant middle-class life – seriously, are English vicarages really that palatial? – comes crashing down.
It’s helped enormously by the presence of Tennant, with whom Moffat worked on Doctor Who. The Scottish actor can play genial and demonic equally well, and that skill is employed to great effect here. He’s got a woman shackled in his cellar – but he’s also a decent man desperate to keep his son safe. Inside Man asks: what would you do if you found yourself in the same situation? (Of course you’d go to the police immediately… but what if you didn’t?)
The prison scenes with death row detective Jefferson Grieff (Tucci), meanwhile, are where Moffat gets to show off his Sherlockian bona fides, creating fun little mysteries for Grieff to solve with preternatural ease. Hannibal Lecter is the obvious inspiration here, though Grieff is no psychotic cannibal – that would be his right-hand man Dillon (Atkins Estimond), a serial killer who once dined on his own mother’s feet (she was already dead, he notes defensively) and gets most of Inside Man’s best lines.
The not-so-good
For all its enjoyable moments, Inside Man leaves a bad taste. The problem is the crime the series hinges on: the sexual abuse of children. Other than a brief comment by Janice early on, the horrors contained on the pivotal flash drive are never spoken about in real terms: images showing actual children being actually raped. Instead, the material is little more than a sword of Damocles hanging over Harry’s head, a MacGuffin to get the story moving and keep Janice locked in that cellar. Given how pop culture has successfully inured us to the concept of murder – just look how I delighted in that serial killer above – it doesn’t make much sense to feel so uncomfortable about child abuse being used in this way. Logical or not, I couldn’t help feeling queasy about it.
The verdict
A fast-paced thriller with moments of pitch-black comedy, Inside Man tells an energetic and unpredictable story helped along by a bevy of great performances, particularly Dolly Wells as the smart and sceptical Janice. If you can get past the crime at the heart of the story, it’s a fun – and refreshingly short – rollercoaster ride. If not, you may find Inside Man a bit harder to love.