A version of this article was originally published in The Dundee Courier on 25 February 2017.
SS-GB: Sunday, BBC One
INSIDE NO. 9: Tuesday, BBC Two
In
the twisted annals of alternative history, one theoretical question dominates:
what if the Nazis had won World War II?
This
nightmare scenario has inspired such notable works of counterfactual fiction as
Philip K. Dick’s The Man in the High
Castle, Kevin Brownlow’s It Happened
Here and that episode of Star Trek
with Joan Collins.
It
also forms the basis of SS-GB, a
1978 novel by Len Deighton. Set in a parallel 1941, after Germany won the
Battle of Britain, it depicts occupied London as a forbidding maze of summary
executions and a growing Resistance movement. Scotland Yard still exists,
albeit as an adjunct to the SS.
So
far, so intriguing. Unfortunately, SS-GB
squanders the potential of its ‘what-if?’ scenario by focusing on a conventional
murder mystery. Alternative history thrives on plausibly imaginative details,
but aside from the impressive spectacle of a bomb-torn Buckingham Palace,
episode one didn’t depict this world in a particularly rich or compelling way.
While
strong on smoky atmosphere, the narrative burned far too slowly.
Deighton’s
novel has been dragged to the screen by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, the
writers behind every Bond film starring Daniel Craig. If, like me, you regard
those films as moderately entertaining at best, then your expectations for SS-GB will have been lowered
accordingly. Even so, I expected more.
The
only truly interesting facet so far is our intriguingly compromised hero, DS
Douglas Archer (Sam Riley), a lawman who’s earned the trust of his Nazi
overlords while secretly praying for their eventual destruction.
Despite
Riley’s youthful appearance, he seems older than his years, thanks largely to
his raspy channelling of the late John Hurt (possibly as a nod to Hurt’s
performance in 1984).
Affecting the
distinctive brogue of another actor could’ve backfired embarrassingly, but
Riley’s charismatic, committed performance transcends mere plagiarism. He makes
the most of his ambiguous role.
Authors
have always returned to the concept of an Axis victory because it could so
easily have happened. It’s a frighteningly plausible piece of skewed reality. Fascism
remains a threat to this day – just look at the White House. By rights, SS-GB should tap into those fears in a
powerful, queasy way.
Instead,
it merely dresses them up in lugubriously stylised noir-ish threads: Peaky Blinders meets ‘Allo ‘Allo with a riding crop up its
rectum.
It
didn’t stir into action until the third-act arrival of a clichéd yet
arrestingly unpleasant SS officer with whom Archer must form an uneasy alliance.
But even the threat of a bomb at Archer’s son’s school couldn’t quicken the
pulse of this thin, murky, wasted opportunity.
Steve
Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith packed more tension into 30 minutes of INSIDE NO. 9 than SS-GB managed in an hour.
When
four men arguing over a restaurant bill feels more high-stakes than a Nazi
occupation of Britain, you know you’re in the presence of ingenious writers.
Every
episode of their justly celebrated anthology series is different, but the
latest was typical in the way it continually subverted expectations, even when
you thought the final twist had already been revealed.
However,
on this occasion I wish they actually had settled on the cunning revelation
that the whole argument was an elaborate scam at the expense of wealthy
businessman Philip Glenister. The final twist – having rumbled their plot,
Glenister becomes their accomplice – was too sudden and felt unnecessary.
Still,
this otherwise entertaining episode proved once again that Pemberton and
Shearsmith operate within the highest echelons of television writing.
No
one else manages to combine character-driven black comedy and tightly-woven drama with as much finesse; I hope they’re given carte blanche to create this
magnificent series for as long as their fiendish brains will allow.
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