Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Stephen Graham, Daniel Mays, Rosie Cavaliero, Anna Maxwell Martin, Amanda Payton, Michelle Greenidge, Richard Gadd, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Michael Armstrong, Vinette Robinson, Louise Stewart, Bleu Landau, James Grogan, John Cummins, Alan Mooney, Sasha Behar, Hannah Bourne, Idris Balogun.
One way to ensure that the dystopian future of policing never happens is to ensure we find ways to ridicule it, that we mock it with intelligence, that we pour scorn on every circuit, and ask the those with the means to sow the seeds of derision, the artists with keen eye and sharp observation skills, to portray the need for AI in certain walks of responsible life to be curtailed.
Sarcasm, contempt, and disrespect, but played out for the viewing gallery under the auspicious umbrella of entertainment, is to be congratulated, and it is in the wit, the wonderful use of double entendre, and the sublime use of language and irreverence that makes the continuing saga of D.I. Roy Carver and D.I. John Major such an enjoyable watch for the fans and devotees of the criminally cool series Code 404.
In its third series the team are confronted with a serial killer with an agenda, and it places the pair, played with a presence that is not only established, but remorseless in its delivery by Stephen Graham and Daniel Mays; a pairing that is made in television heaven, and with continued excellent performances from the likes of Rosie Cavaliero, Anna Maxwell Martin, Amanda Payton, and the unflappable and comedic genius of Tracy-Ann Oberman, Code 404 has become a delicious and moulded comedy drama in which it genuinely has no equal.
The satire of modern policing, and society at large, is framed within the six half hour episodes, the rush to augment, to have the access to data that does not necessarily fit the purpose it is intended for, the lack of transparency it creates, and above all the right to be judged by human intuition and instinct, rather than be tried by a system of biased and discriminatory algorithms.
What really stands out is the eventual identity of the killer at large, for as with everything in life, we tend to overlook the possibility that it is the one who is always in the picture but never in the foreground; it is in this reveal that brings the series its greatest triumph, and one that cannot be dismissed out of hand.
As with the likes of Ghosts and Not Going Out, and The Goes Wrong Show, Code 404 is at the forefront of wonderfully observed British comedy that has led to a new silver age of television farce, wit, and absurdity. It is an arresting thought that once you allow comedy to flourish it can make a difference to the long-term suffering viewer.
Ian D. Hall