The Diplomat

Starring: Dougray Scott, Claire Forlani, Rachel Blake, Jeremy Lindsay Taylor, Richard Roxburgh

Synopsis:

When Scotland Yard intercepts a massive heroin shipment, British diplomat Ian Porter (Scott) is the prime suspect, thanks to his known association with notorious drugs trafficker, Krousov. Yet when an attempt is made on Porter’s life, the strange behaviour of both Porter and MI6 leads the Yard to a staggering conclusion: Porter is not simply a British ambassador to Tajikstan but a MI6 operative sent undercover to expose Krousov’s terrorist contacts. Chief Inspector Hales (Blake) offers to cut Porter a deal to turn on Krousov and in return, enters Porter and his estranged wife (Forlani) into the Yard’s International Witness Protection Scheme in Sydney, Australia. When a Cold-War nuclear bomb goes missing, the race is on to uncover Porter’s involvement and prevent a global disaster, with or without MI6’s help. In the murky world of the Secret Services, no one and nothing is as it seems...

Review:

The Diplomat is a two-part mini series from Australia (originally called “False Witness”), and although it contains a number of excellent moments, these are swaddled in a lot of padding.Things start off well, as they usually do. A police surveillance operation is blown when the drug runners they are keeping an eye on have to be stopped from executing a couple of teen graffiti artists who’d stumbled upon their drug deal. The ensuing gunfight leaves an officer in hospital fighting for her life, therefore making the persecution of Ian Porter more personal for the cops.

Dougray Scott is excellent as Ian Porter. He’s damaged goods since the accidental death of his son, and was probably easy pickings for his old friend and MI6 handler, Charles Van Koors (Roburgh). Van Koors poses as Porter’s solicitor and convinces him to stay on mission, giving Chief Inspector Hales (Blake) nothing. Meanwhile, Krousov decides that Porter needs reminding to keep silent, so sends a rather violent message via his estranged wife Pippa (Forlani).

The action soon switches from London to Sydney, with the Porters in Witness Protection. Hale tries to convince Pippa to pry open Porter but he proves a prickly prospect. However this is the first time since their son’s death that they’ve been in such close proximity to each other and eventually they are forced to confront the elephant in the room, which in turn allows Porter to give his wife an inkling as to what is really happening. Meanwhile both Krousov and Van Koors are trying to establish where Porter is. Porter has a special key with him, which is of great significance to both men.

As mentioned there are some nice, tightly edited action scenes along the way, with a couple of shoot-outs and executions to keep things lively. But there is a lot of chaff aswell. We are bombarded with the fact that Porter is wracked with guilt over the accidental drowning of his son, with flash-backs galore to that particular tragedy. Similarly we are constantly reminded that Van Koors has more or less gone rogue with his covert operation and there are loads of whispered arguments with his No.2 as they debate whether to alert their bosses as to what they are up to. And then there’s Krousov’s Cafe Moskau, supposedly the best restaurant in Tajikstan, complete with sleazy pole dancers. You could make a serious drinking game out of every time a stripper appears swinging round her pole!

Despite all this repetition, The Diplomat manages to hold the attention, chiefly through the performances of Dougray Scott and Rachel Blake. The cinematography is very pretty throughout and it certainly looks like they made the most of their location shooting in London, taking in the sights!

Verdict

The look and feel is very similar to the tv series Spooks, but the story has been overstuffed with melodramatic padding. Good performances from Scott and Blake and some good nice action managed to keep the finger off the fast-forward button though.

6 out of 10 (MikeOutWest)

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