The Missing bosses' new thriller Boat Story review
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It must have happened to most of us at one time or another: you're strolling down a frigid British beach in the early hours to stretch the dog's legs and while gazing at the hypnotic offshore wind farm on the horizon, you stumble upon a boatload of smuggled cocaine.
And that is indeed what befalls Janet (Daisy Haggard) and Samuel (Paterson Joseph) in the new BBC drama Boat Story. Both have drawn life's short straw of late, with Janet maimed during a horrific workplace accident we defy you not to squirm at as it unfolds in the show's first five minutes, while Samuel is struggling with a secret gambling addiction which has hollowed out his life savings.
It's that thrill-seeking side that prompts Samuel to convince Janet into making off with the cocaine they find aboard a beached boat – alongside two blood-soaked bodies no less – so they can sell the drugs on for millions.
Enter the owner of said cocaine in the form of a frightening French tailor-turned-mobster, played by the inimitable Baptiste star Tcheky Karyo, and his unflappable hitman simply billed as Guy, played by Craig Fairbrass. They descend on the seaside Yorkshire spot on the hunt for the errant drugs shipment.
The cast is filled out with a strong ensemble, from Joanna Scanlan as the local pasty peddler and Ethan Lawrence as her son and a comic relief copper.
Then on the periphery of it all is a supremely dry narration from Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, which is one of a number of signposts to clue you in on how self-aware this crime-caper-meets-police-procedural is. If you ever forget, one of the ornate, tongue-in-cheek intertitles spliced into the series will likely pop up to remind you.
The tonal zigzagging through the six episodes of the BBC drama might put some viewers off – like in the police station, when Fairbrass' dazed hardman tries to follow a rudimentary map, drawn with a felt tip on the back of a Chinese menu, while behind him his accomplices tear bloody reckless hell through the officers like they're on a videogame kill streak. Your lips want to stretch into a wry smile, but you aren't sure if you should – for those who do, this will be the show for you.
Yet Boat Story never feels farcical. The stakes stay fairly well in place, pressing in on Janet and Samuel as they try to shed the coke in exchange for the squillions to end their personal miseries, all while The Tailor and Guy close in.
In an offbeat ensemble, there are precious few weak links in the cast. Haggard and Joseph strike up a distrustful buddy comedy double act, which conjures the feeling of two siblings doing something they know shouldn't be, but still hopeful mum won't come into the room and catch them at it.
Elsewhere, it's gripping to see Karyo break bad from the good-guy confines of Detective Baptiste; so much so, that when he starts to get bogged down in a romantic storyline, it's less interesting – but as ever with this show, where it leads defies expectations.
At his side, Fairbrass shines with both hardman material he's extremely familiar with, as well as more emotionally wrought work which we really haven’t seen from him before. They're a compelling pair.
Boat Story – its name another indication of how fast and loose it is playing with the sobriety of the whole thing – is the brainchild of writing and producing siblings Harry and Jack Williams, who were also behind The Tourist and The Missing.
The various stylistic quirks aren't something we've seen from the pair before. You get the sense they're making the most of the industry goodwill they have accrued by swinging big here, some of which works and some of which doesn't. At points the comic moments they're reaching for fall short, while at others the violence is sudden and extremely brutal just when you feel like you're romping along.
But Boat Story references the prevalence of IP-driven storytelling in our TV landscape – the question of who will get the life story rights for the drug shipment escapade rears its head – and, in that context, this quirky drama feels like curling up by a fire in the depths of winter.
The kooky and highly stylised approach might mean this isn't one for everyone, but it's certainly one which, for those who connect with it, will do so intensely – much like the fans of The Tourist and The Missing before it.
The first episode of Boat Story airs Sunday, November 19 on BBC One at 9pm and is available to stream on iPlayer.
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