Inside Man, BBC1 review — Stanley Tucci and David Tennant wrestle with good and evil

“Everyone is a murderer. You just need a good reason and a bad day,” says Jefferson Grieff, who, as a leading professor of criminology and a convicted killer, is something of an authority on the subject.

He is the main man of this absorbing new BBC drama that explores this fatalistic idea that goodness can readily cede to evil — and the more optimistic inverse, that it can also re-emerge. The four-part series developed by Steven Moffat follows two parallel (and gradually intersecting) stories about an inmate on death row in the US, and a vicar in a small English suburb. One man is willing to follow a path of self-preservation at all costs; the other is guided by notions of “moral worth” and justice. No prizes for guessing which is which.

The penitent, aptly-named Grieff is played by Stanley Tucci — a man so innately debonair that he looks like he could mix one of his signature martinis even with his hands shackled together. The actor brings an abundance of wit, charm, self-awareness and quiet gravitas to his character, who stoically spends his last days using his expertise to help people solve mysterious cases. But his affability has been carefully constructed by Tucci and Moffat to leave us with thorny ethical questions, such as whether a murderer could (or should) be deserving of our affection.

Grappling with these disquieting dilemmas on our behalf is English journalist Beth Davenport (Lydia West) who arrives in America to write a profile about Jefferson’s unusual consultancy service. While Jefferson believes that media attention will cheapen his sincere pursuit of atonement, his curiosity is piqued by the young reporter’s ambivalent response to him. Things eventually come to resemble a lighter version of The Silence of the Lambs once Beth brings our Hannibal Lecturer a case involving an acquaintance back in England.

This leads us to Inside Man’s second, more immediately gripping (but less enjoyable) narrative, starring David Tennant as Harry Watling, a man of God caught in a hellish situation. When a hideous misunderstanding between Harry and Beth’s friend arises — threatening to destroy his career, life and family — the former begins to take drastic and desperate measures to contain the impending crisis.

In a matter of panic-stricken moments (convincingly realised by Tennant) we see how quickly ordinary, respected people can abdicate their sense of right and wrong. This story of a holy man who reminds us of humanity’s fragility, and a convict who reminds us of its endurance seems like the perfect subject for a vicar’s sermon. If only Harry wasn’t otherwise preoccupied.

★★★★☆

Episodes 1-2 air on BBC1 from October 26-27 at 9pm and on iPlayer thereafter. On Netflix outside the UK at a later date

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