Undercover - a miniseries in six parts – is a legal drama which premiered on British television (BBC) in 2016.
The main characters are the British barrister Maya and her husband Nick, who is not the person she thinks he is.
Here is some basic information about this drama:
** Writer and creator: Peter Moffat
** Directors: James Hawes (3 episodes) and Jim O’Hanlon (3 episodes)
** Run time: 6 x ca. 55 minutes = ca. 330 minutes
The cast includes the following:
The first group
** Sophie Okonedo as Maya Cobbina – a British lawyer
** Adrian Lester as Nick Johnson – Maya’s husband - a writer
** Tamara Lawrence as Clem Johnson – age 19 in 2016 – Maya and Nick’s first child
** Daniel Ezra as Dan Johnson – age 18 in 2016 – Maya and Nick’s second child – who seems to suffer from autism
** Shannon Hayes as Ella Johnson – age 17 in 2016 – Maya and Nick’s third child
The second group
** Mark Bonner as John Halliday – a senior police officer
** Angel Coulby as Julia Redhead – a reporter – who is Maya’s best friend
** Leanne Best as Abigail Strickland – a police officer who used to work undercover
** Vincent Regan as Dominic Carter – Nick’s handler
** Dennis Haysbert as Rudy Jones – a prisoner who is on death row in the state of Louisiana, USA
Most of this drama is set in England, but a few scenes are set in the United States (Louisiana and the Supreme Court in Washington, DC).
Most of this drama is set in 2016 (the present), but a few scenes are set in 1996 (the past) where we learn what happened to the main characters twenty years before.
The roles of Maya and Nick are always played by the same actors.
When we go twenty years back in time, they should look younger, but they do not. They look almost the same.
Maya’s hair is more wild (more afro) when we see her in the past. When we see her in the present, her hair is tied in a hard knot. That is the only difference I noted.
Maya is a British barrister who focuses on cases about human rights and racial discrimination.
For 20 years, she has been involved in a case in the United States: the case of Rudy Jones who is on death row in a prison in Louisiana. She believes he is innocent. She believes he is the victim of a wrongful conviction.
In the first episode, we learn that Maya tells her husband everything about her life and her job, but Nick does not do the same with her.
He has a big secret: he is a police officer who is undercover. He moved in with her in order to spy on her and her cases. He has been with her for 20 years. They have three children. The oldest, Clem, is 19.
The viewers know he is undercover from the beginning (from the first episode), but Maya does not yet know this fact. She only finds out about it later in the series.
This means I am not giving anything away when I mention this important detail.
The notion that an undercover police officer would enter into a personal relationship with the person on whom he or she is supposed to spy may sound unrealistic, but this is not the case. It is, in fact, very realistic.
Peter Moffat’s script is inspired by information about the British police force which came to light in 2014 and 2015. A senior judge (Lord Justice Pitchford) was assigned to head an official inquiry into this remarkable practice.
[There are references at the end of this review.]
What do reviewers say about this drama?
Here are some results:
On IMDb it has a rating of 68 percent.
On Amazon there are at the moment 370 ratings of this product, 346 with reviews.
The average rating is 4.3 stars which corresponds to a rating of 86 percent.
If you ask me, both these ratings are too high. I understand the negative reviews posted on Amazon and I agree with most of them.
I know this drama is made for entertainment. But it is not meant to be a fantasy. It is supposed to be realistic. It is inspired by real events.
If a few details are unrealistic or implausible, I do not mind, but in this case, we are not dealing with a few details here and there. The problem is everywhere and all the time. The list of unrealistic or implausible details is quite long:
# 01. This is a legal drama, but we hardly see Maya in court. When we do, it does not seem very realistic
# 02. How can Maya and Nick afford a big house and a new car? Maya often works pro bono (this means for free) and Nick does not make any money at all! Where does the money come from?
# 03. How can Maya and Nick afford to send their oldest daughter Clem to study at Oxford University?
# 04. How can Maya afford to fly to Louisiana so often? This is a long journey. This cannot be cheap!
# 05. The trip from England to Louisiana (or back) takes only about one minute for Maya! Apparently, there is never a delay; never a problem with immigration; never a problem with lost luggage. Amazing!
# 06. Why is Maya never affected by jetlag?
# 07. Maya is a British barrister. How can she be allowed to represent a prisoner in Louisiana? Has she passed the bar exam in this state?
# 08. How can Maya be allowed to address the US Supreme Court? Does she have a special permit?
# 09. When Maya is in the US Supreme Court, she does not use the mandatory opening “Mr Chief Justice, and may it please the Court.” Why not?
# 10. When Maya addresses the US Supreme Court, her arguments are purely emotional. They are neither legal nor rational. How can she hope to win her case by appealing to emotions?
# 11. When you present a case before the US Supreme Court, you do not get the result at once. The members of the court will retire to deliberate and discuss the case. The result is announced much later. But in this case, the result is apparently announced at once! How can this happen? Perhaps this is a special favour for a British barrister?
# 12. Maya has epilepsy, yet she is driving a car. This is irresponsible and (as far as I know) illegal.
# 13. Maya is a dissident barrister who has never prosecuted a single case in her entire life. She works for the defence. Why would the British Government want to appoint her to be the next director of the Department of Public Prosecution?
# 14. Nick claims to be a writer, but he has never written anything for twenty years! How can Maya trust him when he says he is a writer? How can she not realize that something is wrong with his story?
# 15. How can Nick keep his father’s existence a secret for twenty years?
# 16. Why do Maya and Nick look the same whether we are in 1996 or in 2016?
# 17. Why does the daughter Clem seem to be older than her mother?
I wanted to like this drama, but it was not really possible. Since so many details are unrealistic or implausible, I cannot offer a positive rating.
This legal drama is fatally flawed. It cannot get more than two stars (40 percent).
PS # 1. The following items about British police officers working undercover are available online:
Rob Evans,
“Undercover whistle-blower Peter Francis gives evidence to official inquiry,”
The Guardian,
17 January 2014
Rob Evans and Vikram Dodd,
“Senior judge to lead inquiry into police spying on political campaigns,”
The Guardian,
12 March 2015
Alice O’Keeffe
“Lies, spies and dirty tricks: the truth about Britain’s undercover police,”
The Observer,
03 July 2022
Rob Evans,
“Police spy unit cause outrage and pain as it infiltrated left-wing groups,”
The Guardian,
20 February 2023
PS # 2. In 2016, when the final episode of the drama was broadcast in England, some viewers noted some loose ends. They speculated about this fact and suggested that the people behind the drama were planning a second season.
But there never was a second season. What we have is a miniseries in six parts. Not the first season of a television series.
REFERENCES
# 1. A book
Undercover:
The True story of Britain’s Secret Police
By Rob Evans and Paul Lewis
(Hardcover 2012)
(Paperback 2014)
# 2. A link
UK undercover policing relationships scandal
Wikipedia
*****
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