The PBS Drama That Untangles British Journalism

It’s reasonably obvious from just the first minute of what kind of Serious British Drama this is going to be. It has the theatrical credentials of the writer Mike Bartlett (), whose plays and TV dramas tend to be wry, timely autopsies of British institutions. It has oppositional central characters: the satanically charismatic tabloid editor Duncan Allen (played by Ben Chaplin) and the pious, self-sacrificing lefty reporter Holly Evans (Charlotte Riley), whose attachment to burgundy turtlenecks is her most unpredictable quality. There are characters clearly based on real people, like a named Wendy Bolt, and a prominent female politician . There are face-offs with the prime minister.