Litvinenko

The audacity of Putin to have his minions murder British citizens on the streets of Britain is beyond belief. First, this using radiological warfare and later using a banned nerve agent. This and the later events in Salisbury were shocking and showed the world what an appalling and murderous dictator Putin is. The painstaking investigation which proves what happened can be a little sterile but it would be. Obviously, Tennant is not in it long but very good use is made of his time and he delivers a fantastic performance. The whole cast do very well in their roles and the producers deserve praise for recreating these terrible events.

The Metropolitan Police investigate the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, a former member of The Russian FSB, now a British Citizen, who is poisoned with deadly agent, plutonium. The Police get some time with the murder victim ahead of his death.

David Tennant was the face of this drama, every advert showed a picture of him, and there is a chilling similarity between Tennant in that hospital bed, and the real life Litvinenko, the big surprise, Tennant only features in one episode.

I really did enjoy it, it seeks to explore the story, details the investigation into the poisoning, and shows the farcical situation in which British officers went on an information seeking mission to Moscow. The one thing it doesn't do, is give enough insight into Litvinenko himself, they could have spent some more time detailing his past.

Episode one is the standout, it's an excellent, gritty, tragic affair, what follows is different, but enjoyable, not as gritty, sometimes a little frivolous, but interesting.

I'm struck by the role the media had in the case, they always seemed to be one step ahead, somebody was clearly leaking information.

A brave drama to make, especially when you think of the current state of affairs between Russia and The West.

It made for an interesting watch.

7/10.

I am still astonished by this short TV series. It begins by the death of Litvinenko, poisoned in London, in 2006, and proceeds with the meticulous investigation that was made by the British authorities to find out how the Russian Poutine opponent was killed. To find out in deep accuracy, to the least detail. It is absolutely stunning, riveting, poignant. You are absorbed, swallowed by this story for which you already know how it ends. Now, in 2023, during war in Ukraine, it resonates even deeper, stronger; we can see how Russian - NOT RUSSIAN PEOPLE,BEWARE - authorities are liars, masters in the art of duplicity.and treachery. I fell off my coach after seeing the sequence where the Russian government smiling lady gives the British police officer the tape supposed to have the record of the Russian agent interview. A recording tape supposed to be used as a proof. I already told to myself that the British cop should have a tape recorder machine to check, rightaway, just in front of the lady, but no, he takes the tape and that's all. And guess what? Of course the recording tape was blank.... Russians....

I didn't think I'd be convinced that I could forget it was David Tennant in the leading role but the acting and drama was good and gripping enough that I did. It reminded me of some of Vladimir Putins past that I had forgotten. It's a shame that Mrs Litvinenko didn't have a better wig. I found it quite irritating. It was so obviously a wig and this was not necessary. Good performance by all cast. Mark Bonnar kept his London accent very well. One could really get the sense of frustration that the police officers faced. The scale of the possible danger to the British public was better reflected in the accounts of the accompanying program where the real people involved were explaining their part.

This was stunningly good. The Missus wanted to watch it for David, her sex symbol, but it was once past that an excellent dramatisation of one of Putin's first big impacts on the UK.

A solid piece of drama with a well-written script that reflected the realities of the time well. Nice use of props, I didn't spot a single phone or computer that wasn't around at the time!

A lot of filming in Cardiff, which gave us a smile or two as London locations were clearly places we see every day :-)

The UK government's response to things is depressing, but hey, everything about this government has been depressing too, has it not?