Hunted (Thursday, BBC1) made a terrific start, but whether the first episode has set the standard for the next seven is another matter — a thriller, after all, has a duty to overwhelm, seduce and deceive with its opening gambit.
This series was not conceived by fluke: anyone with half an eye on Bond, Bourne, Spooks or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo can see its pedigree, but that is no bad thing, and if its look reminds us of last year’s Scandinavian hits then so much the better. The territory is familiar — international espionage — but we never tire of spies, and these are not the double ‘O’ kind (who save the world every week) but private intelligence ‘operatives’ (who choose which side to play for).
‘Top operative’ Sam Hunter (Melissa George) is confronted, in the opening sequence, by a series of grim-faced men. Lovers? Colleagues? Targets? Who knows. She knocks most of them downstairs, kicks a few in the head and then gets shot. Why? It doesn’t matter — not yet. All we need to know for now is that Hunter’s future, like her past, will be chock-full of incident and that she’s taciturn, secretive and good at running up hills. What’s not to like?
Welcome to India (Wednesday, BBC2) is a revelation: a programme about India that has nothing to do with Britain. At last! This film does not contain the words ‘British’ or ‘Empire’ and does not feature a British presenter; it is an authentic, current guide to Indian street life, filmed by the participants with confidence and panache. We are searching for gold in the gutter-dirt of Kolkata; we are crouched in a drinking den on a beach in Mumbai; we are hawking knocked-off paperbacks to commuters in rush-hour traffic.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in