The Salisbury Poisonings - General Discussion

[DanaK]

This is a 4 part series from the BBC that's being played on AMC+ (streaming) and AMC (linear) in the US. It's about the 2018 Skripal poisonings with the Novichok nerve agent by the Russians and the effect on the UK city of Salisbury

It premiered on BBC One in June 2020 and then on AMC+ in the US in late Fall of 2020, then on the AMC linear channel starting Monday, January 25, 2021 at 10pm ET. I didn't see a press release that it was going to be played on AMC linear so I almost missed it when I just happened to see it listed in TV Guide Magazine

Part 1 was pretty good, setting up the scene and the danger and tension as they try to find out what's happening

Edited January 27, 2021 by DanaK

[Aulty]

I watched this on the BBC last year. Its pretty decent, but it won't be for everyone because it sits somewhere between a documentary and a TV show version of events. They didn't turn it into some Jack Bauer thriller, which I appreciated, and I think we will see more of this type of show in the future (they just announced a TV show about the government's handling of the Corona crisis with Kenneth Branagh as Boris Johnson).

The acting is good - Anne-Marie Duff in particular.

[Razzberry]

Love Ann-Marie Duff and I'm all in after seeing the first episode.  Russian agents have gotten sloppy if they thought this was a good idea!

[DanaK]

Duff’s character, as the local Director of Public Health, didn’t seem to have enough experience to deal with something this serious, especially something with international consequences. Wikipedia does say Daszkiewicz said her character in the series was a composite of several people, though she really did play a leading role in the response to the poisonings, but it seems like people with much more experience should have been intimately involved in handling this incident

@Razzberry it seems less a case of sloppy and more that the Russians were sending a message. Witness their recent poisoning of  opposition leader Alexei Navalny

You know, I appreciate how the British economize on their scripted series and make just enough episodes. This probably would have been 8 episodes in the US

Edited January 28, 2021 by DanaK

[Razzberry]

Putin must be going mad with power.  This map from Wikipedia shows the countries (in green) who have expelled Russian "diplomats" since this incident.

Finally part 2 on tonight!

[Razzberry]

On 1/28/2021 at 7:55 AM, DanaK said:

You know, I appreciate how the British economize on their scripted series and make just enough episodes. This probably would have been 8 episodes in the US

For only having four episodes I expected things to move along at a faster clip, but the story hasn't advanced much from last week.   

Edited February 2, 2021 by Razzberry

[DanaK]

Part 2 was pretty good. They finally discovered where the poison was put in the Skripal house. Skripal's friend made a good point that Skripal didn't change his name and should have when he came to England. The authorities stuck him in Salisbury but didn't change his and his daughter's identity at all. That poor detective suffered a lot

[DanaK]

On 2/1/2021 at 5:20 PM, Razzberry said:

Putin must be going mad with power.  This map from Wikipedia shows the countries (in green) who have expelled Russian "diplomats" since this incident.

Finally part 2 on tonight!

Heh, yeah. As I recall then-President Trump didn't want to expel any of them and got convinced to do so because he thought the US would expel a small number. He got mad when he found out the US expelled the largest number. With a new US president and the recent Navalny poisoning, it's possible more actions will be taken against the Russians, but who knows for sure

[Razzberry]

Amazing accomplishment by the BBC to actually make this incident boring.  Where is MI6, are they looking for the poisoners or chasing cats and looking at swans?  These complaining neighbors and whining children are ridiculous time wasters.

[FoundTime]

Fun fact: Rafe Spall, who plays Nick Bailey, is the son of Timothy Spall, who played Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail in the Harry Potter movies.

I'm enjoying this. I had DVRd the first two episodes, which I watched back-to-back Sunday night, and I was all in for last night's ep. I just happened to catch an ad somewhere on the teevee for the series, which is the only way I knew about it. That's how I "found" Line of Duty too.

[RedbirdNelly]

I was annoyed by episode 3--too slow. I kept thinking "wait, this is episode 3 of 4? why is this moving so slow?"  There were so many "what is the point of this?" scenes for me. Chasing the cat---leading to drinking some wine? etc.

[Razzberry]

I can't even...

[RedbirdNelly]

that was a show that started out interesting and quickly went down hill (and that's the only thing it did quickly)

[meep.meep]

Seeing the real people at the end of the finale was the best part.  Snoozefest otherwise.

[DanaK]

I still need to watch the last two episodes. Working on it

[LennieBriscoe]

I thought the "detective" elements were glossed over.

E.g., exactly how did the authorities focus on the "perfume" vial? Why was there no follow-up to the alley, garbage bin, witnesses in area, etc.?

E.g , exactly how did medical investigators zero in on Novochik? What were its distinguishing characteristics?

E.g., how did the authorities  determine the eventual  "all-clear?"

E.g., why didn't spouses get sick?

IOW, I thought the interesting story line was hurried in favor of scenes in meeting rooms!

Kudos to the lead actress in agreeing to look like a haggard Keeley Hawes or Hermione Norris. 

Unfortunately for me, in one particular scene she looked AND acted ( in expressions and head movements especially) exactly like (the awesome) Robert Carlyle, and once I "saw" that, I couldn't shake it! Haha! 

I'd give the mini-series a "B-." Didn't save.

Edited February 20, 2021 by LennieBriscoe

[DanaK]

I finally finished the last two parts tonight. I thought it was a pretty good emotional drama overall and felt bad for Dawn and her family that she was a casualty of this, but miraculously, the only casualty

I thought 4 parts was just about right for this; any more would have been unnecessary