Inside Man (2022 TV series)

Inside Man is a thriller drama television serial developed by Steven Moffat. The four-episode series premiered on 26 September 2022, and was broadcast on BBC One. It was released on Netflix in the US on 31 October 2022.^[1]

Inside Man
Genre	Drama Thriller Dark comedy
Created by	Steven Moffat
Directed by	Paul McGuigan
Starring	David Tennant Stanley Tucci Dolly Wells Lydia West
Composer	David Arnold
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	4
Production
Executive producers	Steven Moffat Sue Vertue Alex Mercer
Producer	Sue Vertue
Running time	60 minutes
Production company	Hartswood Films
Original release
Network	BBC One
Release	26 September (2022-09-26) – 4 October 2022 (2022-10-04)

Cast

• David Tennant as Harry Watling, a British vicar forced into a difficult situation
• Stanley Tucci as Jefferson Grieff, a former criminology professor on death row in an Arizona prison
• Dolly Wells as Janice Fife, Ben's Mathematics tutor
• Lydia West as Beth Davenport, a crime journalist
• Lyndsey Marshal as Mary Watling, Harry’s wife
• Dylan Baker as Casey, a prison warden
• Atkins Estimond as Dillon Kempton, a serial killer on death row in Jefferson’s prison who acts as Grieff's assistant
• Louis Oliver as Ben Watling, Harry’s teenage son
• Eke Chukwu as Keith, a guard at the prison
• Kate Dickie as Morag, an acquaintance of Jefferson in England
• Mark Quartley as Edgar, Harry’s deeply troubled verger
• Tilly Vosburgh as Hilda, Edgar’s mother
• Boo Golding as DS Clyde

Production

Filming locations included St Andrew's Church in Farnham, Godalming Railway Station, Godalming, outside the Beehive Pub in Bedfont Middlesex, Broad Street in Wokingham, John Hanson Community School in Andover and Welcome Break Fleet Services in Fleet.^[2]

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date	UK viewers (millions)
1	"Episode 1"	Paul McGuigan	Steven Moffat	26 September 2022 (2022-09-26)	3.93
British crime-journalist Beth Davenport is intimidated on the London Tube by a predator, but is assisted by Janice Fife, a tutor for mathematics, and the two become friends. In a prison in Arizona, a former professor of criminology Jefferson Grieff, who was convicted of murdering his wife, has spent years on death-row waiting for his execution to be scheduled. He is regularly visited by people who want to hear his insights regarding criminal cases. The prison-warden respects Grieff and supports the visitations. Grieff frequently tells people that everyone is a murderer under the right conditions. Back in England, village-vicar Harry Watling agrees to hold a USB drive for a young suicidal parishioner named Edgar, who is trying to hide the drive from his mother. Janice arrives at the vicarage (Harry's residence) to teach Ben and asks for a USB drive to transfer a file. Ben sees Edgar's USB drive and gives it to Janice, whereupon the latter notices that it contains child-pornography. Thinking that it contains conventional pornography, Ben tries to defend his father by taking the blame for the content on the drive. Ben leaves the vicarage to attend a concert, and Harry, horrified at the prospect of Janice going to the police and involving his son in a child-pornography investigation, uses force to prevent Janice from leaving the vicarage, finally pushing her into the cellar and locking the door.
2	"Episode 2"	Paul McGuigan	Steven Moffat	27 September 2022 (2022-09-27)	3.09
Beth wishes to write an article about Grieff and travels to Arizona in order to interview him, but Grieff, feeling remorse for murdering his wife, asks Beth to refrain from giving him publicity. A short time later, Beth receives a blurry photograph taken by Janice while she was being assaulted by Harry, and finds that Janice is no longer responding to messages or phone-calls. Concerned that Janice is in danger, Beth goes back to Grieff to ask for advice. After explaining the situation, Beth is surprised when Grieff mysteriously demands that Beth never mention Janice again. In return, Grieff offers to let Beth sit in on his next visitation, to which Beth agrees. The visitation involves a middle-aged woman, accompanied by her daughter, whose husband vanished five years ago after walking out of a salesmanship awards-ceremony wearing a tuxedo. Grieff realizes the truth and makes some phone-calls (he has phone-access from his prison-cell), and then asks Beth to pick up an envelope from Grieff's friend and deliver it to the woman. Beth does so and the woman is deeply upset. Grieff explains that no witnesses noticed a lone man in a tuxedo because an orchestra had just finished performing nearby, and the man blended in with them. There was no mystery as to what the man did: he immediately went home on the commuter-train, whereupon his wife murdered him and buried the body. The envelope contained a picture of the salesmanship-award with dirt sprinkled on top. Meanwhile, Harry meets with Edgar and tries to record Edgar confessing to owning the USB drive, in order to divert suspicion from his son. He intends to free Janice after getting the recording. When Edgar clams up and refuses to make any admission, Harry decides to report himself to the police as owner of the USB drive. That night, Edgar hangs himself, leaving a suicide-note which says, "Don't believe the vicar is a paedo. He's protecting someone else."
3	"Episode 3"	Paul McGuigan	Steven Moffat	3 October 2022 (2022-10-03)	3.32
Grieff is informed that his execution-date has been set. It will take place in three weeks. Beth is informed by Grieff that his earlier demand for Beth not to mention Janice's name was just a test to see how much Beth cared for Janice. In reality, Grieff has already asked a friend to examine Janice's social-media profiles, and is fairly certain of what happened to her. Beth flies back to the UK and is picked up by Morag, a convicted house-robber who is friends with Grieff. Morag breaks into Janice's apartment (Grieff somehow made inquiries and found the address). Harry is questioned by the police regarding Edgar's suicide-note, but the police refuse to believe Harry's claim that Edgar possessed child-pornography, because that contradicts the note which claims that Harry is trying to protect someone. Harry cancels his plan to deliver the USB drive to the police, because that would cause the police to look into whom he might be trying to protect. Janice, chained in the cellar, seemingly tries to turn Harry and his wife Mary against each other. She bargains with Mary for better treatment in return for giving Mary the password to her email-account, so that Mary can send an email to Janice's sister pretending to be well. Janice then gives the password to Harry without any bargaining. Harry gives the password to Mary, who sends out the email. The decision is made by Harry and Mary to kill Janice by placing a portable heater next to her which leaks carbon monoxide. Harry then forces Mary out of the vicarage so that he can take sole responsibility for the murder. Mary drives away but realizes that the email which was sent will eventually cause the police to focus on Harry: the police would be able to see when Janice's phone was smashed, so the only way for her to send the email would have been her laptop, which was taken to the vicarage for the mathematics-lesson.
4	"Episode 4"	Paul McGuigan	Steven Moffat	4 October 2022 (2022-10-04)	3.18
Grieff offers to reveal the location of his dead wife's head if his father-in-law, a British organized-crime leader, pulls strings in order to postpone the execution. Janice pleads with Ben to call the police, but Ben does not want his father arrested. Intoxicated by carbon monoxide, Ben is angered upon realizing that Janice had planned to report Ben for the pornography, and strikes Janice in the head with a hammer. Mary realizes that the police might suspect foul play if Janice's laptop is missing from her flat. Mary enters Janice's flat to return the laptop, but is confronted by Beth. While running from Beth, Mary is hit by a truck and dies. Harry opens the cellar-door to check whether Janice is dead from carbon monoxide, and is surprised to find Ben. He sends Ben away and is prepared to take responsibility for Janice's death, but Janice begins moving again. Harry takes the hammer and tries to kill Janice, but is tackled by Beth, who has raced to the vicarage. He considers fighting Beth but three gangsters with shovels enter the cellar, having been sent by the father-in-law, who was tricked by Grieff into sending men to the vicarage. Harry is arrested for his crimes, but Ben is not charged. In the post-credits scene, Janice flies to America to visit Grieff, and asks for advice on how to murder her husband, showing that she was not a particularly righteous person herself. Grieff is not surprised, saying that everyone has the potential to be a murderer if provoked.

Reception

Critical reception

Inside Man was rated 67% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 24 reviews, with a score of 6.9 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Inside Man's ambitions are undercut by clunky and predictable plotting, although Stanley Tucci and David Tennant's performances are welcome compensations for viewers who enjoy twisty thrillers."^[3] Top critic Graeme Blundell from The Australian writes, "It's superbly acted by a bunch of experienced actors who know just what kind of heightened style is required here, directed in immersive style by the accomplished McGuigan, and thoroughly enjoyable. Just hold that wine glass." Charles Hartford from A Geek Community writes, "Inside Man Season 1 delivers a gripping tale that is well worth its short, four-hour runtime...The series pulls the viewer into its depths as it explores how far people will go when they are caught in the wrong place at the wrong time."^[4] The Guardian described it as being a "funny and typically meaty mystery from Steven Moffat".^[5] Pat Stacey, writing in the Irish Independent said, "Probably the most foolish scene of all came in Tuesday’s finale when Mary threatens journalist Beth (Lydia West) ... with a breadknife while making 'whoosh' sounds. This nudged Inside Man into full-blown sitcom territory. Strange, that, since Moffat seemed to want to say something serious about human nature and people's capacity for violence."^[6] Anita Singh of The Daily Telegraph said, "Moffat can throw any amount of good lines or clever little plot twists into this show, but it is built on a flaw so fundamental that it's impossible to get past it."^[7]

The series features Steven Moffat's own son, Louis Oliver, whose performance as Ben, the vicar's son, was described by Radio Times as "show stealing".^[6][8]

Viewing figures

The first episode was watched 5,028,000 times on iPlayer alone during 2022, making it the 7th most viewed individual programme on the platform that year.^[9]