I will say this for Playing Nice (ITV1), the baby-swap drama, which last night dribbled out a climax that was so predictable I would have bet my house on it: it certainly put the “corn” into Cornwall. What a hamfest!
It is, of course, TV law that if a potboiler is set in any coastal region of Britain someone must end up falling off a cliff (spoilers ahead for those catching up). It’s funny how baddies always choose to have their showdown on a steep precipice where it’s slippery underfoot.
I knew psycho Miles (James McArdle) was going to end up in the sea from day one and handily he looked to be wearing unsuitable slip-on shoes with no firm grip as he and Lucy (Jessica Brown Findlay) grappled in a low-energy tussle, like two drunks fighting over the last fishcake in the chip shop. She pushed him off after bashing him over the head. Bye, Miles! You should have bought Clarks’ non-slip shoes with grip technology.
But there was no proper explanation for why Miles was so evil. Yes, we knew his brother had died in a fire doubtless caused by him, that he was a coercive controller and that his estranged mother walked into a family hearing in court to warn Lucy: “I know what he’s capable of.” But we needed much more backstory.
I had been looking forward to this series mainly because James Norton, who played Pete, and Niamh Algar, who played Maddie, are terrific actors. Norton is so charismatic I could watch him read out his gas bill.
Advertisement
His Tommy Lee Royce in Happy Valley was just superb. But the problem with this drama is that not one element of it and not one character rings true. Apart from, if I’m being fair, Algar’s Maddie, who at least said credible things. It was adapted from the novel by JP Delaney, which I haven’t read, and this series doesn’t make me want to.
• Playing Nice review — James Norton’s parental bombshell turns nasty
Norton’s character was a wet lettuce dressed in a woolly hat like Benny from Crossroads who let Miles run rings around him. The fictional Daily Mail published his personal diaries without his permission and he just accepted it. “Maybe I can ask the newspaper to remove it from the website,” he said feebly. You think?
This was meant to be about two boys swapped at birth in hospital yet they were minor players, the adults squabbling over Theo while poor little David was like a puppy overlooked at the shelter. Coronation Street did a baby swap storyline in 2008 and while it wasn’t perfect, it was far more plausible than this.
Did anyone believe for a minute Lucy’s motive in swapping the babies? What, your husband is vile so you make sure your child (Theo) goes home with a nice family while you take theirs (David) into the lion’s den? And Maddie just accepted it saying: “You did everything you could to protect your child.” Eh? I would be livid! It was beyond ludicrous.
Advertisement
Brown Findlay’s one-note performance as Lucy throughout was odd and consisted of saying very little. It also seemed a waste to cast Phil Davis as Pete’s father then use him for about three minutes. And would a coercive controller really forget that he had cameras all around his house that handily recorded him giving “gummies” to Theo?
I knew it would end on the beach in a happy families scene set to music, the mothers exchanging meaningful smiles, the boys playing together. Here were four very good actors, but somehow it turned into a corned beef hash.
★★✰✰✰
Love TV? Discover the best shows on Netflix, the best Prime Video TV shows, the best Disney+ shows , the best Apple TV+ shows, the best shows on BBC iPlayer , the best shows on Sky and Now, the best shows on ITVX, the best shows on Channel 4 streaming, the best shows on Paramount+ and our favourite hidden gem TV shows. Don’t forget to check our critics’ choices to what to watch this week, the best shows of 2024 so far and browse our comprehensive TV guide
