A new TV series debuted this week in the UK, and because I had put it on my "watch list" for some reason, I found it and checked it out. It's called "Inside Men," and stars an actor known in Britain for his TV work named Steven Macintosh. If it's a hit in the UK (as it appears it will be given initial reviews), it will probably show up on US TV sooner or later. Thus the heads-up.
Steven Mackintosh is one of those genius character actors who so throw themselves into their parts that you can't tell there is an actor there. As has been noted by some critics, if someone asked you to describe him an hour after having seen him in a movie or TV show that you loved, you would be unable to do so. That said, his DCI Ian Reed in the first season of "Luther" was easily the third-most memorable character in the series. Given that the first two were Idris Elba as DCI John Luther and Ruth Wilson as the charming sociopath Alice Morgan, "coming in third" still may still grant you entry into the Interesting TV And Movie Character Hall Of Fame. His performance in this series is backed up by equally excellent actors Nicola Walker (from "MI-5," a.k.a. "Spooks") and Ashley Walters. In the first episode of "Inside Men," John Coniston (Mackintosh) is that most bland and invisible of British men, manager of a cash counting house who is fastidious and compulsive enough to catch even a 5-pound discrepancy in his books. In his own house, he's married, heavily mortgaged, and barely scraping by. He has always played it safe, avoiding any kind of confrontation. His biggest fear is that the place he works may be robbed. Bam! The place is being robbed. John's family have been taken prisoner and are being held hostage by the robbers. He's been trained how to deal with this situation. But can he? Will he? One question that influences the resolution of these two questions is -- is John the victim of this robbery, or did he plan it? The rest of the 4-episode series, as I understand, consists of flashbacks to show how this robbery came to be, and what follows from it. I'm hooked. I'll definitely be watching the rest of this one. Does the possibility that John might have had a little something to do with robbing his own place of work sound a little like "Breaking Bad?" In my opinion, it should; I suspect that if pressed the writers might cite BB as an inspiration. But this series is British, which makes all the difference. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWGCVlFB-CA <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWGCVlFB-CA>
