Who Watches The Watchers?

Just when I begin to think the English are lost to us and swirling the cultural drain in an inescapable vortex,…I come across the television series by BBC One called THE CAPTURE.

I'll be honest,…I was just looking to see more of the alluring and attractive Holliday Grainger, who stars in this. I accidentally came upon a clip from the 1st episode of season 3 on YouTube, and being a typical male, I was hypnotized by her fresh young presence that tugged at me. (I've always had a weakness for girls with an English accent.) And the smart tale and action was also intriguing. So I did a quick search on my Roku to see where I might watch this series. Currently, season 1 is on Netflix, and both season 1 and 2 are available on Peacock. (Season 3 is currently unfolding on the BBC in the UK. Unknown if you can get it here on BBC America.)

But I first want to inform you that season 1 premiered in 2019. And that is important to bear in mind because AI manipulation and generation of convincing video imagery was nothing then like it is now. Yet, despite having come out 7 years ago, the technical people behind this production were spot on and it still feels prescient even now.

Our heroine, Ms. Grainger, is a smart and upcoming gal in the national security service, temporarily assigned to the police forces to gain experience and climb the career ladder. She discovers severely disconcerting activities within her own branch that have adopted the use of deep fakes to assist in judicial processes. The public thinks the surveillance state surrounding them is merely documenting reality. But when it suits them, they are creating it to their whims.

I've told you too much already. I should really just shut up and let you discover it all for yourself. Does she blow the whistle? But how? And to whom?

Season 1 can be a little bit slow. But Season 2 really picks up and gets even better. And in fact, the technology was evolving in the real world so rapidly, the writers and technical advisors had to constantly keep throwing out the script and starting over. Which is why Season 2 didn't show up until 2022, 3 years later. And the same has happened with Season 3, which is only 3 episodes in right now over in the UK. 4 years after Season 2!

And this isn't just an entirely English production, either. The CIA plays a role (of course), we get to see The Vanilla Gorilla (Ron Perlman) play the CIA station chief. You might recognize Ben Miles, the government television minister in V FOR VENDETTA, as the British surveillance services chief, and Indira Varma, the Princess of Dorne from GAME OF THRONES as a BBC new personality.

I could tell you more, but I don't want to spoil it.

But suffice to say that not everyone in England has their head in the sand and comfortable with the cameras on every street corner and sidewalk. Not all of them trust their government,…or this script would have never been written. Yet neither is it naive as to the real world dangerous actors out there that threaten terrorism and worse that our governments have a responsibility to thwart and keep us safe from.

THE CAPTURE is an intelligent blend of spy mystery, police procedural and moral decision game, wrapped in an entirely too believable plot and performed with the quality dramatic skill and deftness the home of Shakespeare has often done better than Hollywood. If your regular choices of TV consumption are leaving you flat, give it a watch and see if you agree.