Anatomy of a Scandal - Netflix

[Eboli]

I binge-watched this (6 part) mini-series last light and felt that I had not wasted my time, even though perhaps not as memorable as it could have been. Essentially a good old political sex scandal combined with a Courtroom drama and a bit (misplaced) trickery in the timeline. The critics have suggested a lack of "connective tissue". But the real issue I had with it is there is a major flaw in a crucial part of the plot. To be fair, the plot is executed at a fair pace and there were few longueres in the telling of it and that is what allowed the binge (each episode is around 50 minutes).

I enjoyed seeing Michelle Doherty in a major role though here distinctive voice makes forgetting Downton Abbey difficult. Both Rupert Friend and Sienna Miller are competent, if not compelling, as the central characters. Indeed, it is in the small roles that the series shines with Josette Simon playing an excellent barrister; Richard McCabe as office light relief; Joshua McGuire as the odious hack; and the short cameo by Phoebe Nicholls at her patrician best.

Once the storyline opens up it becomes very predictable and leaves little room for surprises. It is propulsion that is all here. There is little that is novel to what are now the well-trodden paths of Oxford into Westminster; and there are more views from Holywell to Hertford's Bridge and onto the Sheldonian to add to that collection started in Morse. There are worse ways to spend an evening.

Eb.

[Laughton]

Thanks for the suggestion.
Always looking for something to watch for a bit less than an hour to fill gaps in evening tv scheduling so will gives this a go.