Product: State Of Play (2008)
Rating: 5.0
Left bereft after 'State of Play' was over
This riveting mini-series from the BBC is television drama of the highest order. We watched it over a period of six weeks on PBS. On the seventh Sunday, we were bereft. Its brilliance is undeniable.The cast is incredible - John Simm (Life on Mars), David Morrissey (later to attempt self-immolation of his career inBasic Instinct 2 (Unrated, Extended Cut)), Bill Nighy (Still Crazyand countless other classic, untouchable pieces of droll excellence), Polly Walker (Rome - The Complete First Season) and Kelly Macdonald (No Country for Old Men)...oh yeah, and a smaller role by one James McAvoy, since gone very large in little things like, oh,The Last King of Scotland (Widescreen Edition)andAtonement (Widescreen Edition). He gets pumped up here with middle of the cover box treatment, but his role is smaller.The excellence of the production hangs on the intersection of journalist Cal McCaffrey, as portrayed by Simm, and MP Stephen Collins, as portrayed here by Morrissey. To complicate issues between the two, Collins' winning campaign for MP was managed by McCaffrey, and there's the not small matter of Cal's less-than-subtle pining for Collins' wife (Walker).Over 500 IMDB reviewers have weighed in with an average review of 8.8 (on a 10 scale), pretty much a chart-blower by that discriminating audience (The Godfather and The Shawshank Redemption are 9.1).