Black Ops, BBC1 review — naive officers infiltrate a gang in farcical cop caper

Some people join the police to serve and protect others; some to feel empowered and exhilarated. And others, like Dominique, are in it solely for the “free tube travel . . . and 10 per cent off at Cineworld”. 

Black Ops, a breezy six-part cop caper on BBC1, follows community support officers Dom and Kay, played by series co-creators Gbemisola Ikumelo and Hammed Animashaun. Cynical Dom and bumbling Kay swap their comfortable posts — less handcuffing bad guys, more handing out balloons — for an undercover assignment infiltrating a London drug cartel. The operation is so covert that its mastermind, DI Clinton Blair (Ariyon Bakare), keeps it secret from his superiors, whom he believes are at best woefully misguided, at worst wilful saboteurs. Unconvinced by their plans to penetrate an all-black gang with a white cop who does “a fairly decent patois”, Blair calls on Dom and Kay to front a reconnaissance mission that officially “doesn’t exist”. The duo may be painfully green but they are also, crucially, the only two black officers he can call on in the entire precinct.

Although there are a couple of gags at the expense of the Met police’s attitude towards race — Dom is mistaken for a trespasser at the station while standing underneath a poster of her promoting the force’s diversity — the show is largely driven by farce rather than biting political satire. Its humour, more amusing than ever truly hilarious, trades on the disconnect between the world of drugs, racketeering and murder that our heroes enter and their own wholesome naivety. At one point Kay suggests he’ll be a natural heroin dealer because he has experience pushing bibles in the name of “the biggest boss there is”.

At times you might wish for some edgier material to cut through the prevailing whimsy and cringe comedy, but there are some enjoyably bold plot developments early on, and much to like in Dom and Kay’s lively, odd-couple chemistry. Black Ops may not have the makings of a huge hit just yet, but it is a low-key charmer.

★★★☆☆

On BBC1 from May 5 at 9.30pm; new episodes air weekly