Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *

Cast: David Walliams, Jessica Raine, James Fleet, Matthew Steer, Christine Cole, Ed Speleers, Roy Marsden, Alyy Khan, Andrew Readman, Robert Hands, Issy Van Randwyck, Chris Myles, Pinar Ogun, Aoife McMahon, Hannah Waddingham, Danny Le Wynter, Tam Williams, Saffron Hocking, Trevor Cooper, Susan Brown, Joanna Horton, Josh Cook, Paul Cawley, David Moorst.

The culture of spying in the days leading up to and during The Cold War was one that has excited many writers to try their hand at creating at the ultimate spy and whilst none will ever match Ian Fleming’s heroic and suave James Bond in terms of intelligent writing and a character that screams excellence on and off the page, it doesn’t stop others from having a go at taking on the genre.

The undoubted queen of British crime Agatha Christie was one such novelist to veer from the world of murder, slightly, and dig into the realms of the spying game and in her creations of Tommy and Tuppence Beresford, there was another angle that came into play, that of the husband and wife team, mostly out of their depth, mostly and sadly an unsatisfying read in comparison to her greatest achievements Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple.

By bringing the Beresford’s back for a second attempt on television and to try and fill the void left by both Poirot and Marple in the schedules, Partners In Crime tries hard to give the audience the realisation that anybody can be a detective, anybody can spy and that anybody can be found to the perfect candidate to work for the secret service. As unwilling as it may seem, the latest three-part story N or M, is more like an advertisement for an Outward Bounds adventure for middle-aged people who need to inject an element of spice into their love lives before filling up on cream teas.

With a nuclear scientist having gone missing and a bomb that could take out a good portion of Norfolk loose in the countryside, Tommy Beresford is recruited to find out as much as he can about the possible spy in the ranks, where Tommy goes, so must to step Tuppence and in game of cat and mouse, everyone is a suspect.

As with the first three-part story in the series, N or M is a story that lacks any type of the fundamental elements and style that Ms. Christie bought to her writing in other areas and whilst both David Walliams and Jessica Raine are consummate at what they bring to the screen in other programmes, as the couple whose lives are turned upside down by their involvement in the British spying establishment, they somehow lack conviction at what they are portraying and sadly it becomes too evident that the story line is unconvincing and a world away from where it should be.

The only highlight lays in Roy Marsden’s appearance as the bitter and resentment filled Commander Haydock, a man whose live was dedicated to the service of his country but to whom soon found the disillusionment all too much to bear. Mr. Marsden’s portrayal is a shining example in a long list of former employees of Her Majesty’s Government and the inner workings of all its spying divisions to whom the lure of revenge or personal accountability is perhaps all too realistic.

A sad way to try and make Sunday night television enjoyable, some programmes are best left unmade.

Ian D. Hall