Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Aneesa Wardle The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

robertemerald I had a look over some of the reviews and wondered why they were so hard on this show. After all, it's the type of characters in this show that started The First World War. Few shows actually show us this world. And the characters, given it's such an undeveloped area of period drama, are, for me, hard to beat, bordering on truly original, and brilliantly enacted. The original author is, after all, part of the literary canon for a reason This is comparable to Charles Dickens, but stands on its own merits. The Secret Agent a period piece like nothing I'd encountered before. There are no heroes, only flawed but passionate people, dangerously entwined with the lives of essentially honest people who are, for the most part, unaware of the dangers brewing beneath their floorboards. I really don't know how anyone could have not been totally refreshed by this cinematic experience. Like all good British productions there is a wealth of detail and realism that make this story a true transportation back to the period, with a ripping yarn to keep one glued. And there is a moral here too, relevant to any time.

l_rawjalaurence As with most adaptations, a comparison with Joseph Conrad's source- text might prove insignificant: suffice to say that Tony Marchant's screenplay bears as much relationship to the novel as Charles Bennett's version for Alfred Hitchcock's SABOTAGE (1936). The plot and characters are there, but Charles McDougall's BBC production is best approached on its own terms.From the beginning we are plunged into the familiar world of BBC Victorian London - a miasma of darkened streets, thick mud and rickety buildings illuminated with blue-gray light. The interior of Verloc'; (Toby Jones's) seedy Soho shop is illuminated by dim yellow lights that suggest that the wares on offer are not the true reason for the shop's existence. And so it proves: Verloc is a double- agent working both for the Russians and the British, as well as presiding over meetings of an anarchist group attended by the Professor (Ian Hart) and Yundt (Christopher Fairbank), among others.Director McDougall contrasts this nether-world with the stylish bourgeois world of the embassies, where the Russian consul Vladimir (David Dawson) sits behind a desk in a bejeweled room, the very epitome of surface respectability. Through such contrasts the production makes a pointed criticism of so-called "Victorian Values," where lower- and lower-middle class tradespeople like Verloc are employed to do the upper class's dirty work for them, and cannot really resist for fear of being socially exposed. Yet things take a much darker turn after the second episode when Verloc's plan to blow up the Royal Observatory at Greenwich goes horribly wrong, and his brother-in-law Stevie (Charlie Hamblett), an innocent young man with learning difficulties, is killed instead. We are made painfully aware of the true consequences of terrorism; it is not the perpetrators who suffer but civilians instead. Verloc tries his utmost to exonerate himself; but with metaphorical blood on his hands, he just seems like a coward unwilling (or unable) to take responsibility for his actions. He meets a violent end which seems somehow right in terms of the story's logic.But the story has not finished yet: although the Greenwich bombing causes something of a stir in the press, as well as in Parliament, the Establishment manages to close ranks, with no one really being brought to justice for the crime. Assistant Commissioner Stone (Tom Goodman-Hill) preserves his reputation, enabling him to attend the best society parties, while Vladimir continues in his role as a Russian diplomat engaging in subversive activity. Verloc's death causes no more than a ripple of disquiet among these people; he might be gone, but there is always another double agent ready and willing to take his place, who might be equally dispensable in the future.In the end we feel little else but a sense of frustration at an amoral world where former prisoners such as Michaelis (Tom Vaughan- Lawlor) are automatically suspected of committing further crimes, even though they have never been near the actual scene where the felony took place; and the ruling classes seem to continue the endless whirl of parties, balls, and other gatherings with little or no thought for others' suffering.This is an angry production, one which castigates everyone with even a tenuous connection to state-sponsored terrorism for the crime of indifference, while suggesting that there is little or no solution to this problem. The cast are uniformly excellent, especially Hamblett as Stevie and Vicky McClure as Verloc's unfortunate spouse.

ashmolean1 This is a totally enthralling production. It is very contemporary in its topic dealing with suicide bombers. Considering when the story was originally written, it has a very modern appeal. The story has twists and turns. Jones's character works for both Britain and Russia in his role as The Secret Agent. He involves the innocent in his attempt to follow orders. The ending is very intriguing. Was the Frenchman in on the plot from the beginning? I have to read the book now to find out if the original story follows this script. The acting is excellent. Toby Jones and all the cast give marvelous performances. I would highly recommend this.

Tweekums This three part drama is centred on Mr. Verloc; a member of a group of anarchists living in London. For the most part they are an ineffectual bunch; they talk a lot but don't actually do anything. Verloc is actually a spy in the pay of Russia and Russia believes that Britain's response to the anarchists has been far too gentle. Hoping to force Britain to adopt a tougher position the Russian First Secretary pressures Verloc to take real action… he wants him to bomb the Greenwich Observatory. To this end Verloc works with fellow anarchist 'The Professor', who makes the bomb before heading out with his autistic brother-in-law on the mission that can only end in tragedy. Before the explosion the police, most notably Inspector Heat, think the anarchists are a bunch of harmless losers but afterwards they are determined to find out who was behind it and expose their backers.Having not read the book I can't say how this adaption compares but as a piece of television I found it rather enjoyable… if distinctly bleak. Toby Jones does a great job as Verloc; a distinctly unlikable protagonist who can't accept that he is to blame for the tragic event midway through the series. He is ably supported by Vicky McClure, who plays his wife, and excels in the final tragic episode. Stephen Graham impresses as Inspector Heat; the only authority figure who doesn't seem to be self-serving. The rest of the cast are pretty good too. Given the age of the original story this feels remarkably fresh; its themes of terrorist plots seem just as relevant today. The story is well told and thankfully the creators didn't decide to provide a happy ending. Overall this was a solid, if somewhat downbeat, story; it won't be for everybody but I rather enjoyed it.