I got a message at 8:23am from a friend;
“Also. Have you seen/ heard of Inside Man? I tried to watch it yesterday and gave up after 25 minutes because it was all just so far from human behaviour. I can’t stop thinking about it and it’s making me feel crazy”
and that was the day accounted for. I had to go find out what Inside Man was, I had to know what was perturbing my friend, what lay inside this media property and what exactly happened 25 mins in that banished it from her to do list and catapulted it onto mine.

Following some clarification I discovered the Inside Man being referenced was a 2022 TV show prestige miniseries starring David Tennant as a FUCKING VICAR* and Stanley Tucci as gentlemen sleuth who is on death row. Tucci has a deal with the prison warden and solves crimes brought to him, he’s Sherlock Homes in a jumpsuit. Rather reservedly he’s in cell 210, rather than 221b, you’d think no opportunity would be missed to lay it on with a trowel. Surely fake Sherlock lives in fake Baker Street? Tennant is a sexy, slightly sweary, vicar who’s got himself into a spot of bother and kidnapped a women by accident. It’s all a big misunderstanding and he isn’t a pedophile or a kidnapper really, he’s just playing the hand he’s dealt. There is another important X factor here, a recurring character in British TV, one we’re cursed never to escape, Steven Moffat. Look I wouldn’t have watched the show if he hadn’t written it for two important reasons, firstly he’s just always revelling, wallowing even, in the same set of over complex cliches he built. To watch Moffat in 2023 is to hate watch. Secondly, the show probably wouldn’t be so disconnected from human behaviour as to warrant comment, I’d just never have heard of it. So I guess BBC picked him well, he drew me as a viewer and I, not he, is made the fool.

The actual premise of Inside Man works, but it works for a 10-22 episode US TV show, every week someone would bring Tucci a case and he’d make a series of guesses, intuitions and vaguely cryptic remarks until the crook was caught or status quo returned. The overarching plot would be about the murder of his wife, which he confessed to, but maybe he didn’t do, but maybe he did do! The episodes A plot can be the problem of the week and the B plot can be mystery box garbage that keeps you watching/binging. It would be perfectly fine, 3 or 4 seasons, 7/10 at the start and 5/10 by the end, a loyal fanbase demand it get picked up by HBO, the end. There’s a dozen of those shows, they do well, people like them, they fill the time. Some grow out into Bones, some get a midseason cancellation and fall off screen like Prodigal Son. There’s an economy to it, a predictable feeling and flow.

To quote Howard Beale in Network,
“No matter how much trouble the hero is in, don’t worry, just look at your watch; at the end of the hour he’s going to win.”

That’s what I think this should have been. Good commodity TV made to entertain, with light intentions that’s predictable. Its largest sin being some egregious product placement. But it’s not allowed to be that, Moffat has to be smart and his smartness is wrought and elaborate.

The show opens with this whole ME TOO, stand up, shout out thing, where a group of women help out each other and stand up to harassment. But its two stars are Men and much of the plot relates to how if the women Tennant has captive would just LISTEN to him and UNDERSTAND it from his point of view, she wouldn’t be brutalised. There’s this kinda track of ‘it could happen to you’ and ‘the accusation alone is an enough’ that doesn’t sit right with me either. This show has all these avenues for moral observations, one of its main characters is literally on death row, the other is a Vicar. But it never gets far past surface level engagement, no one even really thinks death row is bad. It’s never really a negative for Tucci’s character, it’s just a location. The Vicars faith is explored a little, but it still feels like that’s his job, not his entirety. I just think if you’re gonna swing like this, if people are going to be scheduled to die or destined for hell, you should do something with it. Otherwise it’s set dressing, it’s just here because that’s what ‘prestige drama‘ is. A costume on something that could have been simple and beloved. Additional premise and ideas squandered to look bigger, smarter, more.

*while he is indeed a Vicar who fucks, having a wife and child in the show. This is in reference to his refrain when challenged on actions being counter to faith and logic, he’s a “Fucking Vicar.” That’s why he holds a women hostage and contemplates her murder.