Secret State

Loved this series from the first episode. The plot is superb and the story draws you in beautifully and keeps you wanting more hence the writer deserves the highest accolade. The cast is perfect and do a stellar job. The direction is fabulous too as no thriller can do with sloppy work. Only negative is that it ends too soon, it deserved at least 10 episodes. Thats one view point, other view point says that maybe it was exciting because it was a short series. Hopefully we'll have a longer series 2. Kudos to Channel 4 for this one. So political thrillers are back and back with a bang and this one matches the era we live in.

I enjoyed 'Secret State'. The film stars Gabriel Byrne, Ralph Ineson, Charles Dance, Rupert Graves, and Philip Dillaine, and covers a short period of time in the administration of a new British Prime Minister (Byrne). Byrne is his usual doleful self which, in this case, is good. As he has inherited the position due to the death / murder of his predecessor. That being the case he is faced with the task of discovering how and why his predecessor died, and unraveling the dark relationships between government, banking, and industry which might have led to that death.

The series is limited to four episodes / four hours, and so does not feel bloated or filled with red-herrings and blind-alleys to pad it out. In fact something actually happens in each episode, something which will lead to the series' resolution. The story, however, is not the easiest to follow and contains dialogue which might make the viewer feel ill-informed in matters of finance. But don't worry. In the end it's not about finance and so what you make of the dollars and cents / British Pounds and Pence, is not nearly as important as 'Who Done What to Whom'.

And that will be made clear.

Who do MI5 and MI6 work for? Who do GCHQ work for? Who do the MOD work for?

I thought it was the Government, or more relevantly, the British voters/public.

Accidental Prime Minister, Tom Dawkins, is of that view and the story follows his struggle against the self-serving to adhere to those values.

But it is an uphill struggling.

Worryingly, I believe the sort of unsupportive back stabbing antics of the likes of the reprehensible Ros Yelland and Felix Durrell, and then there was the sheer arrogance of banker Sir Michael Rix, who seemed quite happy to have the British public got to war just to make more money for himself.

Maybe there were aspects of the main story that were farfetched, at least I hope so, but the portrayal of Government, banking, corporate politics is of concern. I am not so sure this was fiction.

Gabrielle Byrne was excellent as Prime Minsister, Tom Dawkins. He would get my vote.

I don't really believe that journalist Ellis Kane would get so close to the PM so easily, nor that Agnes Evans could go undetected for so long.

I was confused that the American Petroflex Corporation was headed up by a Brit.

The most disappointing aspect of this drama was the ending.

It just finished on a cliff hanger, everything that had gone before left in the air. Was a second series int heir mind? It never came to fruition if it was.

Pretty good if a bit melodramatic at times. Superb cast and the storyline is intriguing if nothing new. The ending could have been a bit more definitive as I hate things being left open to interpretation.

I'd watch it again and would like a second series

I found this series searching the web for political drama. Watching it is a very positive experience.

Filmed in 2011 or so the setting is UK in the present time. Lots of unfortunate events happen at one time. The 4 part series is about the political reaction to those events. Happenings and reactions are realistic enough to be relevant although cutting it fine on the dramatic side. Most relevant modern popular political topics are in the series, like terrorism, government surveillance, political infighting and moneys effect on politics.

Minuses are few, the biggest one being the series being way too short and compact :) Other minuses are ambiguities here and there and some minor connections between people and issues that seem a bit strange.

Acting is overall good. To me especially Gabriel Byrne playing the leading role does well.

In short this is must see if you like political drama.