TV Pick of the Week: The Undeclared War - review by Yvette Huddleston
The Undeclared War Channel 4, review by Yvette Huddleston
Simon Pegg returns as Danny Patrick, head of operations at GCHQ who, along with his team, spends his days trying to keep the country safe from the numerous cyberattacks directed towards Britain from hostile states intent on interfering with democracy.
The threats are mostly coming from Putin’s Russia and from China, and after suffering the latest Russian attack, one of Danny’s team, bright young coder Saara (Hannah Khalique-Brown), discovers that the hackers were in possession of a code that they could only have received from a GCHQ employee, which means they have a mole in their midst.
An investigation is launched by GCHQ’s Head of Security, Charlie Francis (Danny Sapani) who also happens to be Danny’s oldest friend. Meanwhile GCHQ director David Neal (Alex Jennings) is trying to reassure the Government that they have everything under control. Hawkish Cabinet minister Richard Marston (Ed Stoppard) is pushing for a hard retaliation against the Russians, something which Danny advises against as the situation could very quickly escalate. Interestingly Marston and the Prime Minister are less keen to act when it becomes apparent there is a more serious threat from China, as they are about to sign a lucrative trade deal with their Chinese counterparts.
To add to the jeopardy level Danny and his team have also become aware that a young Russian analyst Vadim (German Segal), a college friend of Saara’s and not a fan of Putin’s, is in imminent danger, having passed on a crucial piece of information to them. They want to help, but need the assistance of MI6 in order to get him to safety.
On the home front too, Danny has some challenges to face. His wife, Barbara (Siân Brooke) heads up GCHQ’s China division. They are very much a power couple, both in high-flying stressful jobs, and they have two teenage sons. While there appears to be some resentment from Barbara that her career has taken a back seat, their marriage seems pretty solid but then cracks begin to show when it seems that Barbara is back in touch with an old boyfriend from her time working in Hong Kong as an MI6 operative in her twenties. The relationship ended abruptly and there were unresolved issues – she clearly continues to think about him sometimes and still wears a piece of jewellery he gave her. The personal, professional and political soon begin to collide as relationships come under strain and no-one knows who to trust.