Series Review: "SS-GB" (2017).

From the writers of Skyfall and Spectre comes SS-GB. This British drama series created by Len Deighton, directed by Philipp Kadelbach, adapted by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, and based on the 1978 novel of the same title by Len Deighton. It is 1941, and the Germans have won the Battle of Britain. Detective Douglas Archer finds himself working under the brutal SS in occupied London.

In November 2014, it was announced that the BBC had hired Purvis and Wade to pen an adaptation of Deighton's 1978 novel. In the late 1970s, copies of Deighton's book carried a "Soon to be a major motion picture" sticker. In 1978, famed exploitation producer Harry Alan Towers had set this up as a British -Canadian co-production to star James Mason, Ralph Richardson, Kate Nelligan and Rod Steiger but financing fell through at the last moment. By October 2015, Sam Riley, Kate Bosworth, Rainer Bock, Aneurin Barnard, Christina Cole, Lars Eidinger, James Cosmo, Jason Flemyng, and James Northcote. At the same time, principal photography commenced and wrapped in January 2016. Filming took place throughout London, England.

The series stars Riley, Bosworth, Bock, Barnard, Cole, Eidinger, Cosmo, Flemyng, and Northcote. The talented cast work well together to push past the two-dimensional stereotypes that their characters could be. In the end, the acting saves the series from a romance that's initially undercooked and a race-reversal narrative that could do more to complicate its alternate universe.

Despite the common fear that the majority of book to on-screen adaptations are poorly made, Deighton's novel works well as a TV show even if some of the romantic scenes feel a little childish. The adaptation is far more streamlined than its source material, but it does a far superior job of establishing the geopolitical landscaping. There is too much reliance on the star crossed romance, but the hair and costumes are perfection. The execution is hobbled by so much unfulfilled potential, a half-realized world and a lackluster Romeo and Juliet romance at its core. With a premise that could easily tip into cringe at any moment, the fact that the world feels so lived in, and its residents so alive, really makes one wish it could just have been given the space to do more. The series is thought-provoking and interesting, yet it never quite reaches the level of depth and complexity it's striving for in both its central relationship and its social commentary. As a love story it's not much cop, and the reason I probably won't watch much more: she's boring and earnest, and he is reedy and insipid. Within the context of television series that set out to hold a mirror up to the problems that ail modern society, the series should be a far more uncomfortable, necessary watch in uncertain times of peak social unrest. With these exceptional elements, the series feels like a series on the cusp of greatness. But it doesn't quite get there.

Simon says SS-GB receives: