Litvinenko

Not coming to Russian State Television anytime soon, I'd imagine, this four-part ITV drama convincingly and realistically retold the events surrounding the 2006 death by poisonising in London of the recently naturalised British citizen, one-time KGB commander Alexander "Sasha" Litvinenko.

Litvinenko had just written and published in the UK a tell-all book deeply embarrassing to his former paymasters about the heinous acts he was ordered to commit for the fatherland and clearly was seen as a danger to his former homeland, requiring his permanent removal from the scene. Lured into a meeting with two former visiting ex-colleagues at a London city centre hotel, he unwittingly drank tea laced with polonium, we're told the most dangerous substance on earth, a man-made toxin manufactured exclusively in Russia. After ingesting the radioactive material, he took ill almost immediately and died an agonisingly painful death, but not before giving an explosive interview to two investigating police officers in which he publicly named Russian President Putin as his murderer.

The programme then follows the dogged efforts of the British police, under the command of DSU Clive Timmons, to uncover the truth and do justice to Litvinenko and his surviving wife and son, no easy task of course, given the obfuscation and dirty tricks put up by their Russian conterparts as well as negotiating the delicate political ramifications of offending and then poking the Russian bear.

I found this to be a most compelling production, from the chillingly accurate recreation of the doomed Litvinenko on his death bed, to the very human connection made to his widow by the investigating officers and taking in the various rings and hoops Timmons and his team had to negotiate, mainly set by the Russians but also the only slightly less obstructive diplomatic restraints at home. Indeed, if I had a complaint at all about the depiction of events, it was that not enough scrutiny was cast on the timorous actions of the British government of the time in not more loudly calling out and taking stronger sanctions against the perpetrators of this outrage carried out on home soil, which of course wasn't the last time Russia attempted to carry out a State-ordered assassination in Britain as witness the later Salisbury poisonings where a British-born woman was actually killed by accidentally coming into contact with the poison brought into our country by assassins.

I watched this very well-made series with a mixture of anger and compassion, as I was no doubt meant to. The ensemble acting was excellent from top to bottom, especially David Tennant's fleeting but convincing portrayal of Litvinenko, Mark Bonnar as the taciturn but laser-focused Timmons, Neil Maskell as DI Brent Hyatt, the initially sceptical police officer first assigned to the case who resolves to see it through and Margarita Levieva who sympathetically plays Litvinenko's widow Marina, who keeps her dignity and fortitude at all times.

Dramatised just enough from the known real events to keep the action at all times credible and yet watchable, this gripping drama was a compulsive watch from beginning to end.

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?

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.

If this was from a book by John Le Carrier telling a tale of a former traitor to the Russian state, who was poisoned to death whilst living in London by the most lethal poison on earth then you would dismiss it as piece of fiction.

But this was no Cold War piece of fiction but a truly frightening tale of the lengths that Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin would go to, to take out Sasha Litvnenko a former Russian agent.

Rather like the Salisbury poisonings this was Putins way of sticking up two fingers to the west. With compulsive evidence from CCTV to trace's of Polonium found, it became impossible to get the killers to trial due to a communist regime and diplomatic immunity.

With high production costs and superb performances throughout I would highly recommend this show. 8/10.