The Stage

TV review

Published Monday 22 June 2009 at 15:40 by Harry Venning

Ozzy (Brian Cox) is not the kind of gangster to let the minor inconvenience of being in prison stop him from taking care of his illicit business interests outside.

Having issued detailed instructions regarding an imminent bullion robbery, and made graphic threats of violence against errant employee Freddie, Ozzy calmly replaces the telephone in its cradle.

“Thank you, Father,” says Ozzy to a very cowed looking prison chaplain, whose office has clearly been commandeered for the call.

This is my favourite scene from the opening episode of The Take, but there were plenty of others that were equally clever, well written and impeccably performed.

There is a school of thought that believes the London gangster thriller has not just been done to death, but also chopped up, put in a suitcase weighted with cliches and sent to the bottom of the Thames. However, The Take proves there is life in the old corpse yet.

Based on the bestseller by Martina Cole, The Take has 1984 as its starting point, and follows ten years in the contrasting fortunes of cousins Freddie (Tom Hardy) and Jimmy (Shaun Evans) within Ozzy’s criminal empire. Freddie is loud, brash and explosive, while Jimmy is more reflective, thoughtful and astute. Both are, in their own ways, ruthless.

So far, so predictable. And, in truth, there are few early surprises in the plotting which mostly concerns itself with the cousins’ rise through the ranks and the effects of their career choice upon their respective spouses. But once Freddie reveals the full extent of his psychotic disposition events take a much darker turn, and just keep getting darker.

It is an unpleasant story about unpleasant people told with a combination of economy, wit, style and uncompromising brutality. But what really raises The Take above the level of overwrought melodrama is the performances. The entire cast are impeccable, with Tom Hardy a revelation as Freddie.

To succeed in being irredeemably repellent and terrifyingly compelling over two hours is quite an achievement.

More fine drama in Occupation, broadcast over three consecutive evenings and exploring the feelings of confusion, loneliness, isolation and depression experienced by three British soldiers returning from the Iraq war.

In an almost unbearably tense prologue, the unit is shown operating among a labyrinth of flats in Basra, attempting to flush out a sniper’s nest. Civilians, invariably, get in the way and when the operation goes awry, a little Iraqi girl is among the casualties. The horrific event unites the survivors in several, often conflicting ways and the comrades all return to Iraq for a variety of reasons over the following five years.

James Nesbitt stars as reluctant hero Sergeant Swift, who finds he has more in common with the doctor he meets in the Basra hospital than he does with the wife he comes home to.

What is That Mitchell and Webb Look? I suspect it is the look of incredulity that passed over my face when I heard they’d got another series. Extremely clever and well performed by two very personable comics, it could still be a lot funnier.

PROGRAMME DETAILS

The Take, Sky1, Wednesday, June 17, 9pm

Occupation, BBC1, Monday, June 15, Tuesday 16, Wednesday 17, 9pm

That Mitchell and Webb Look, BBC2, Thursday, June 18, 9pm