The Undeclared War (TV Series) Episode #1.1 (2022) User Reviews

A good first episode.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 21 July 2022]

On her first day at GCHQ on work experience, Saara arrives just as the country's national power goes down.

A pretty good first episode I thought, it's a chilling concept, rewind a few years, and channel four put out a drama called Blackout, it gave me nightmares, there was a similar vibe here.

I think before the war in Ukraine, many of us believed that this would be the future of war.

I enjoyed seeing Simon Pegg in a straight laced role like this, he's good, he's very good, perhaps the standout here.

The Prime Minister, would it have been more realistic to have shown him hiding in a fridge, that would have been more accurate, and based on recent times, easier to relate to.

A few negatives, Pacing will be an issue for some, I wasn't sold on Adrian Lester's PM, and considering the enormity of the threat, it lacked urgency and panic, not concerned about the market crashing, they enjoyed a few hugs.

Stale, pale and male, did there really need to be an apology for that, come on that's getting beyond patronising, I'm not sure when it comes to national defence and security that it should be an issue. That's lazy writing, the way to actually cause division, not end it.

Good start, 7/10.

An interesting start to the series.

[kentish-96533 · 9/10 · 30 June 2022]

An interesting start to the series. I cannot wait to see what happens next. Adrian Lester makes for an interesting choice of actor for his role as Prime Minister.

Interesting, modern premise presented in a lazy, clichéd style.

[lfaucher1840 · 5/10 · 1 July 2022]

The good points... The plot has potential, if it can stay on point. Modern, relevant and has enough legs to keep the tension up over at least a short season.

In general the casting is fine, and the characters don't jump out as being out of place. Simon Pegg is fine in his toned down acting style rather than his usual comedic front, and hopefully our Hannah Khalique-Brown's Saara will develop a stronger role. My only real concern is the PM still has question marks as he's so far unconvincing, which I blame more on the screen play than Adrian Lester's acting.

And now the bad... The intro is irrelevant. Our talented young IT heroine is shown on a pointless and ill explained scavenger hunt. A hundred and one ways to show intelligence vs normality, why chose this nonsense?

Unnecessary family drama because...? A little back/side story is fine connect the outer world to the behind closed doors story. But much of this episode felt more like a family drama than a high stakes game to prevent national disaster, and it added so very little beyond filling out the run time. To make it worse they have essentially closed it out already rather than drip feeding some home life to contrast the wider world problem.

Lazily written racism reference to GCHQ and its predominant White Male workforce. No subtlety or slow build up to an awkward 'are there any other non-White women here?', no, just throw it in the viewers face. Yet 2 mins later we meet Maisie Richardson-Seller's Female Black US NSA operative, although honestly that intro felt like a token International casting than for the character herself. Maybe they will add meaning later down the line, or maybe not?

The new PM. Unnecessary but OK. But why mention the ousting of BJ for a backbencher? Its just asking to age badly and comes across as the writers personal viewpoint. Keep it simple and just call him new, or don't reference change at all. But at least they didn't push the obvious ' first black PM' (unless I missed it) - yes we have eyes.

PMs factory visit with a raucous workforce inside the factory. What? No manager would want that on display as its very bad optics. Outside the gates maybe, but inside, on camera...heads will fall.

COBRA meeting. Why did no one actively challenge the Russian Hacker theory? Shouldn't it be GCHQs job to stand up and say its currently unproven not just once, but again when Putins counter hacker was mentioned? And not a word from anyone when the PM announced he wanted an official counter attack based on zero evidence. Where were the calming voices balancing out the hothead?

Are Government officials really so stupid to ask if Smart phones are affected by power outages and Internet loss? I want to say yes, but in reality whilst they may not be technical wizards but they aren't that dumb...come on! Another ''did I really hear that?' moment that makes me question if anyone reread the screenplay and script before filming.

The overall result is that this Premier episode is very much a mixed bag. I can give it a little leeway as a pilot but it needs to be more on track and actually add some drama to the drama. There's talk of Power Outages, Internet Loss, NHS problems, Financial issues...but zero tension. It almost feels like it was rushed to production due to the global political climate.

So in need of tighter writing and directing, and a slow turning of the screw in weeks to come, or else the only turning will be down on interest levels on what has been built up on adverts over the last few weeks.