David

This aired on BBC2 on Christmas Day 2024 & having seen some glowing reviews, I was eager to watch this documentary. I have been a life long fan of Sir Roger having met him twice. It was fairly interesting but not riveting as I had expected. Sir Roger came over as a lovely man (as I found him to be) but despite his ready humour, the film portrayed him as a tad boring. I don’t believe he was boring at all. It seemed to me unfair to spend so much time on the subject of his creating his screen and off screen persona. Stars who trade on their features gave always done this - look at Steve McQueen, Robert Redford, Paul Newman et al. They all created a persona so that the public knew what to expect in their movies & to ensure the public paid to see them in those movies. It was a strictly commercial decision. It seemed that whilst two of Sir Roger’s children were delighted to reminisce, his son Christian was clearly embarrassed and had some odd reactions to the home movies his brother Geoffrey had found and passed to the producers. Whilst there were a few interesting facts about his life there were some surprising omissions - reference to his excellent performance in ‘The Man Who Haunted Himself’, his lecture/interview tour, his callous pushing of a Thai boy into a polluted Bangkok river in his second Bond film, his love and care for his fourth wife’s daughter dying of cancer & the heartbreaking decline in his own health where he had to rely on his family to perform the most basic personal tasks. Overall it was a reasonable watch but it felt slightly vacuous and not as satisfying as I’d been led to expect.

The only word capable of describing this staggeringly impressive drama is the word ‘superb’. On every level it delivers and is worthy of the label - masterpiece.

This is a truly excellent drama. Riveting! It is a lot better than its predecessor ‘Scoop’ as it gets into the guts of both sides and exposes hitherto unknown facts. The acting and production quality are perfect. Of particular note, Sheen is superb as Prince Andrew capturing the inner psyche of the man. I think better than Rufus Sewell. Ruth Wilson is brilliant who captures Emily Maitlis’s voice perfectly. The writing is subtle and compelling. Heartily recommend.