Odyssey:
Sunday, BBC Two
Arena:
Nicolas Roeg… It's About Time: Sunday,
BBC Four
Not
Safe For Work: Tuesday,
Channel 4
Paul
Whitelaw
Having spied Channel 4's success with
Homeland, BBC Two is presumably hoping to grab some of that US
import thriller action with Odyssey. But on the evidence of
its opening double-bill, this 13-part series is possibly too
sprawling, laboured and muddled to capture a comparable audience.
Set in the US and Africa, it tries to
tackle all the major geopolitical issues of the day – war,
terrorism, corporate corruption, grass-roots protest, media hysteria
and the financial crisis – in pursuit of a supposedly grand
statement about the interconnectedness of our global catastrophe.
Unfortunately, these noble ambitions
are scuppered by an uneven patchwork narrative involving a drab
homeland conspiracy and a Mali-based strand in which Anna Friel's
US army officer makes a dangerous
trek across the desert. This latter strand is far more engaging and
suspenseful than anything else in Odyssey; it flags
drastically whenever Friel isn't on screen.
Her impressive performance is matched
by Omar Ghazaoui as the Malian teenager who becomes her unlikely
ally. Mercifully free of mawkishness, their relationship is the only
interesting aspect of the show.
To carry off something on this scale
requires depth, focus and precision; Odyssey is a hectic
splurge. One might charitably defend its approach as an intentional
attempt at reflecting the complexity of the issues at hand. But
really it's just sloppy story-telling. While I'm glad that American
TV dramas are gradually trying to explore geopolitics in a relatively
thoughtful way, Odyssey' is less than the sum of its parts.
It's surprising to learn that, during
its 40 years on air, cerebral arts strand Arena has never
crossed paths with visionary British film director Nicolas Roeg.
After all, they're a perfect match. But not only was Nicolas
Roeg... It's About Time his first Arena profile, it was
also the first time he's participated in a documentary about his
work.
A suitably elliptical tribute to his
unique vision, it was more interested in exploring Roeg's thematic
obsessions than providing standard biographical details. Famed for
his non-linear narratives and emphasis on psychological displacement,
it wove thoughtful analysis of his films – including obvious
touchstones such as Performance and The Man Who Fell To
Earth – with quietly revealing, twinkly pronouncements from the
man himself.
It was, in typical Arena
style, an attempt to capture the spirit of the artist. While
newcomers to Roeg's work may have preferred a more conventional
approach, that woud've missed the point of this masterful
impressionist. And at least it didn't ruin the ending of Don't
Look Now.
More bleak than funny, comedy-drama
Not Safe For Work is nevertheless an intriguing howl of
anguish about a dysfunctional bunch of misfits working at a moribund
immigration department.
Hitherto best known for her role as
deadpan hedonist Vod in student comedy Fresh Meat, the
excellent Zawe Ashton stars as a recently divorced civil servant who
reluctantly relocates to Northampton from London due to budget cuts.
She's dismayed to discover that her
new manager is a former underling who only got the job after
pretending to be a devout Muslim. A befuddled, work-shy,
drug-guzzling mess, Danny's inspirational motto is “work hard or go
home.” He's also played, not as a wacky grotesque, but as a
pathetically vulnerable soul by another highly promising young actor,
Sacha Dhawan.
Seemingly written from a place of
genuine pain and offbeat compassion, Not Safe For Work is full
of bracing, downbeat promise.
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