Peter Lawrence (Hugh Laurie) is a rising star in the Government who has just won’t court case against a journalist alleging he was involved in corrupt dealings.
Having barely escaped the fire, Laurence is feeling invulnerable - until he learns that he may have a daughter in prison. His problems are compounded when he is promoted to Justice Minister...
I had a good feeling about Roadkill. The cast were great and the concept of a politician discovering he has a now-grown child in prison sounded like great pulp.
The character of Peter Lawrence is interesting - a self-made man who is so popular with the public, they are willing to overlook his various faux pas. It is hard not to read the story as a riff on Boris Johnson’s rise to power, as Laurence battles through personal crisis while undermining his unpopular prime minister (the late Helen McCrory in her final role).
There are some key differences - Lawrence has a belief system that he follows to the bitter end. It is an incredibly self-serving ideology that becomes clearer as the series progresses.
While appropriately cynical and morally ambiguous, the show never quite rises above a simmer.
The subplot with Lawrence’s daughter is interesting, and I was interested in seeing more of Rose’s (Shalom Franklin-Brune) machinations inside. While the story’s ultimate intent is very different, the concept of a prisoner pulling the strings of the higher-ups would make a compelling show in its own right.
Laurie is suitably two-faced, but while there is something compelling about the character’s self-serving logic, I felt unmoved and unsurprised by the series finale: Is Lawrence showing greater level of duplicity? Is his regard for his third daughter genuine or based on his recognition of her willingness to break with societal norms?
These questions are interesting, but as the credits rolled I felt no need to hypothesis on them.
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