TV review: Roadkill
ROADKILL (M18)
This BBC First four-part drama, currently airing, arrives at a time when UK politicians are under fire for double standards.
You could argue "aren't they always?", but Roadkill offers a solution for anyone dabbling in duplicity - be Hugh Laurie.
He plays Peter Laurence, a Tory minister who we first see beating a libel case after a surprise turn of events.
To the public, he is a smart and charismatic man of the people. Of course, we soon see behind the facade and the term Machiavellian is an understatement.
Laurence has so many skeletons in the closet it could rival the Paris catacombs, and there is a swift accumulation of events threatening to have all the bones spill out.
Laurie is excellent and walks that fine line of being a despicable character you want to see shimmy out of danger.
Likewise, the late Helen McCrory, in one of her last roles, is icily magnetic as the equally calculating prime minister - knowingly inviting a viper in to the nest.
The problem comes when Roadkill asks us to concentrate on side plots. Without Laurie or McCrory, there is a distinct feeling of deceleration.
It is not quite at House Of Cards level - UK or US versions - but Laurie makes it worthwhile. - JONATHAN ROBERTS
Score : 3/5
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