TV Pick of the Week: Run Away - review by Yvette Huddleston
Run Away Netflix, review by Yvette Huddleston
Hot on the heels of Lazarus – starring Bill Nighy and Sam Claflin – which dropped on Amazon Prime late last autumn comes another adaptation of a Harlan Coben novel, Run Away, published in 2019. The bestselling author’s work is well-suited to television and the series always deliver pacy, cleverly plotted storylines that keep the viewer engaged.
James Nesbitt and Minnie Driver play investment banker Simon Greene and his hospital doctor wife Ingrid whose eldest daughter Paige (Ellie de Lange) has become estranged from them after dropping out of university and becoming a drug addict. Both parents blame Paige’s boyfriend Aaron (Thomas Flynn) for Paige’s addiction and are desperate to help her but she wants nothing to do with them.
While Ingrid feels that they have to allow Paige to reach rock bottom, Simon keeps looking for her and trying to make contact. After a tip-off, he sees her busking in a local park, she runs away and then Simon gets into a violent confrontation with Aaron. Filmed by a bystander, this encounter goes viral on social media. Simon’s lawyer (Tracey-Ann Oberman) manages some deft damage limitation, but when Aaron is later found brutally murdered in his flat, Simon becomes a person of interest in the police investigation, led by detectives Isaac Fagbenle (Alfred Enoch) and Ruby Todd (Amy Gledhill). He denies any wrongdoing and then is persuaded by Ingrid to go to Aaron’s flat to look for clues as to Paige’s whereabouts which leads to a meeting with the local drug dealer and his heavies and results in Ingrid being shot and ending up in an induced coma ICU.
Meanwhile private investigator Elena Ravenscroft (Ruth Jones) is hired by another concerned father who is searching for his missing adopted son. She discovers that his disappearance may be linked to Paige in some way, the last recorded phone call he received was from her, as well as a spate of unexplained murders of seemingly unconnected men, carried out by chilling young hired killers Ash (Jon Pointing) and Dee Dee (Maeve Courtier-Lilley).
At times there are some slightly implausible twists – would a respectable, law-abiding couple such as the Greenes really break into a crime scene? – but in terms of narrative drive, Danny Brocklehurst’s script maintains a high-stakes momentum. And the performances from a strong cast ensures that the characters and their motivations stay on the right side of believable. A hugely satisfying binge-watch for the cold winter nights.