Babylon

Babylon, Channel 4 - TV review

From patchy pilot to a force to be reckoned with. One of the most thrilling and original series on television.

It's a profoundly bad day for the Met. As Liz's gambit to shoulder the responsibility of keeping the commissioner's multiple affairs secret starts to backfire, chaos befalls the communications department and a gleeful Finn positions himself strategically. Meanwhile, the police are closing in on the bomber, and a shooting by the armed response unit outside a nightclub makes a bad day just that little bit worse, particularly for Banjo, who is starting to suspect Davina is playing away.

Radio Times review

Those of us enjoying Babylon spent some time picking our jaws off the carpet after last week's developments. Probably best not to read on if you haven't seen that episode yet, but the black comedy about the Metropolitan police suddenly and very unexpectedly got a few shades blacker.

This week: the aftermath, and the media storm is billowing out of hand. "Is this turning into the worst week in Scotland Yard's history?" wonders a TV news anchor, while PR chief Liz scrambles to save her job. Her deputy, swaggering slimeball Finn, can smell blood in the water and moves in for the kill. Light relief of sorts comes from halfwit firearms officer Robbie. But not for long.

'Babylon' season 1 episode 4 review

All in all though, this week's episode is saved by the excellent writing that wisely chooses to dial back on the black comedy and instead focus much more on the spiralling office relations, corporate power grabbing and political backstabbing. Other storylines may drag things down due to their lack of pace or development, but regardless, Babylon remains intriguing and addictive.

'Babylon' season 1 episode 3 review

Say what you like about Babylon, but after tonight's rug-pull ending, you certainly can't say it's predictable.

Babylon, Channel 4, TV review

Get ready for some satirical comedy, idealistic drama and heart-pumping action.

'Babylon' interview: James Nesbitt

An interview with James Nesbitt about his role in Babylon.

The James Nesbitt of Babylon is different [from The Missing]. It's a strange hybrid of a show, being an actual police drama in which the cops are ridiculed with the kind of humour that wouldn't be amiss in Airplane. But Nesbitt, as Metropolitan Police Commissioner Richard Miller, doesn't do a Leslie Nielsen. He unleashes his 1,000-yard stare and plays his hand with unabashed aggression. Without Nesbitt the uncertainty of tone that keeps Babylon on the edge of farce would overwhelm it. Nesbitt's role is to glower and grimace and to issue volcanic eruptions of poetic swearing. Forget Doctor Who, Nesbitt's Miller is the new Malcolm Tucker.

Observe his dismissal of a proposal for a sponsored police news network, The Metwork: "This kettling was brought to you by Morphy Richards." Or the way he orders the deletion of some potentially embarrassing emails. "I don't want it to happen. I just want it to have happened." Obviously nothing like that would ever occur in the Met, but the scene in which a copper was required to eat 100 chicken nuggets on his last day had the ring of truth.

Radio Times review

The high-level political stuff among the Met top brass is the meat of this beefy satire. But for me the parts that work best involve the SO19 unit of armed cops and their brutal banter: it feels like the germ of a bigger, funnier sitcom in itself.

At the moment the everyday machismo is veiling the fact that one of their number, Warwick, is having a bit of a wobble, mentally. (He shot someone dead in the pilot and later was assigned to shoot a horse as part of his rehabilitation - they're all heart.)

As for the Commissioner and his eager spin chief, she has a brilliant idea: Metwork, the force's very own digital news channel.

After commissioner Miller took a mauling from deputy mayor Delgado last week, he's out for vengeance. But when a golden opportunity presents itself, he has to mull the potential political fallout and risk making a powerful enemy. On the armed response team, there are still doubts over whether Warwick is up to the job. Meanwhile, Liz meets up with an old flame before having a cocaine- addled brainwave about how to regain the public's trust in the Met. The best thing on television by a country mile.