#SIMS 3 KICK IT UP A NOTCH NOT WORKING SERIES#
#SIMS 3 KICK IT UP A NOTCH NOT WORKING TV#

David Morrissey and John Simm as Stephen Collins and Cal McCaffrey play brilliantly off against each other as truths are eventually discovered. High praise indeed for Paul Abbott, the writer. The six episodes allow several characters to become rounded and interesting. It is not just a driving narrative however, there are real people with real emotions caught up in the action. The journalists, the politicians and the police prowl around each other as the conspiracy is unravelled. The six episodes of 'State of Play' need close attention but once the plot gets going it is a roller coaster ride to the last few minutes of the last episode. Apart from the 2001 co-production 'Conspiracy' the BBC drama output is a poor shadow of what it used to be in the sixties and seventies. It is an oasis in a very large desert of quality programming from the once mighty BBC.

Although 'State of Play' doesn't quite match that seminal classic it is still superb.

#SIMS 3 KICK IT UP A NOTCH NOT WORKING SERIES#

The BBC haven't made a mini series as good since 'Edge of Darkness' in 1985.

#SIMS 3 KICK IT UP A NOTCH NOT WORKING TV#

In 'State of Play', he has produced the best British TV series since 'Holding On'. Paul Abbott, meanwhile, is certainly the sort of man you'd choose to write a drama. Morrissey's Stephen Collins is never sympathetic, and yet comes across as the sort of man you might almost choose to try and run the country. If one of the tragedy of politics is that many of its protagonists are first rate idiots, another is what it makes out of those who are not. David Morrissey as the MP around whom the storm breaks is also excellent - when politicians are held in universally low stock, 'State of Play' avoids all the easiest shots. What's especially impressive is how well the female characters are realised - neither passive decoration nor kick-ass post-feminists, but believable, not necessarily glamorous women - the contrast between the sexes has a low-key ring of truth. Instead we have real, three-dimensional portrayals. Abbott has commented that he knew he would have failed if any of his (largely journalistic) heroes could be sumarised as 'mavericks' - a simple lesson ignored by ninety percent of writers today. Director David Yates also deserves credit, for keeping the mood tense but unmelodramatic throughout, while the cast show uniform excellence in bringing Abbott's characters to life.

Paul Abbott's 'State of Play' succeeds gloriously on all these points, and confirms his reputation as among the the sharpest writers in British television today. If the final conclusion is that the Prime Minister has a prediliction for drinking the blood of teenage girls, then however plausible this is made to seem, an opportunity has been lost - if politics really is the subject matter, and not just the setting, then the personal drama must make some wider political point. Finally, a political drama needs to say something authentic about the current state of the world. Anyone can write an infinite collection of coincidences and conspiracies - but a strong story makes simple sense in the end. But the plot must resolve into something comprehensible - there may appear to be one hundred mysteries, but beneath the smoke and mirrors, there must be one story. Secondly, a fast-paced, complex, dazzling plot. What makes a good political thriller? Some things are obvious.

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