Barnaby Walter, 07/07/2008
Ben Wishaw sufficed as Jean-Baptiste Grenouille, the extraordinarily scent-aware star of "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer". Now, with a new hair cut and a life-style and setting closer to home, he plays Ben Coulter, a generally friendly, well thought of 21 year-old. Following a series of decisions and events (borrowing his Dad's taxi, picking up a young woman) he opts for a night of drug fuelled sex. When he wakes up the girl is dead with a knife wound to the heart, and he is slowly being taken down the degrading road of police procedure and criminal conviction.
The police procedural element is gritty, at times gruesome, but never boring enough to drive you to play "spot the famous actor" (though there are plenty to spot, Lindsay Duncan, Pete Postlewaite, Bill Paterson to name but a few). Scenes of bodily abuse in prison are occasionally hard to watch, as Ben realises good behaviour is the last thing that will keep him in the inmate"s good books.
Wishaw excels spectacularly as Ben, managing to portray his understandable fury and anxiety without shoving it down your throat. The whole five part drama succeeds in doing this, artfully showing characters in unjust situations, but by never patronising the audience. Brutal prison life is not dumbed down, nor glamorised. The same can be said for the courtroom scenes, which treat you as witness to the event, not someone looking through from behind a window.
Overall this series is a magnificent example of superbly made drama from the BBC, taking care not to overlook story, motivation and characterisation for needless action.
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