Dignity of the Russian agent who defied Putin’s tyranny: CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night’s TV

Litvinenko

Judgement:

What a weird accent. It hardly seemed possible that those sounds could come from that familiar face.

Not the Russian guttural sounds of David Tennant, in Litvinenko (ITV1), but the growling Cockney of Mark Bonnar – usually a man with the most famous Edinburgh brogue since Maggie Smith in The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie.

Bonnar largely took over, but the effect of hearing him undiluted London was like seeing a soprano open her mouth and sing Ol’ Man River, basso profundo.

So far we’ve seen little of him as the head of counter-terrorism, although we can expect him to play a more central role in tonight’s second episode.

Couple: David Tennant as Alexander Litviinenko and Margarita Levieva as Marina Litvinenko

Tennant’s compelling performance dominated the first part. The drama wasted no time in placing the dying spy Alexander Litvinenko where we expected to find him – in a hospital bed, amidst a tangle of IV lines and monitor wires. . . weak, bald, but defiantly menacing.

“I have to report a murder. Mine,” he told detectives. His dignity and courage in the face of death made it possible to admire him, even if he made no excuses for his career as a Russian secret agent. “I was Deputy Chief of Section Seven,” he announced. “Simple job, this job is to kill enemies of the Russian state.”

Litvinenko had a poetic sense of words, and writer George Kay captured this, especially with the statement the former spy wrote for his friend Alexander Goldfarb (Mark Ivanir) to read after his death in 2006.

This was an attack on the Kremlin dictator, Vladimir Putin, which is even more relevant today than when Litvinenko was assassinated: “You may succeed in silencing one man, but the howls of protest from around the world will ring in your ears, Mr Putin, for the rest of your life.’

The need to lay out the facts of a complex murder, as well as filling in the political background and outlining the rivalry between police departments meant that a lot of explanation was needed between characters.

Litvinenko was killed with radioactive polonium-210, “widely accepted as the most dangerous substance known to man,” a toxicologist helpfully offered.

The story was most powerful when it focused purely on the drama of a man on the verge of death who knew nothing could save him. He took comfort in the knowledge that he had not left his faithful wife Marina (Margarita Levieva) and their son at Putin’s mercy.

“Britain is a good country,” he said. ‘I will die, yes, but I will die a free man. My wife and son are free.’

The wonders of the world I can’t see

Judgement:

Blind comedian Chris McCausland wishes he’d never left Britain’s shores as he explored Greece in The Wonders Of The World I Can’t See (Ch4).

“I’m blind so what’s the point?” he joked. “Besides, I’m afraid of flying and I don’t function well in the heat.”

Adventure: Blind comedian Chris McCausland wishes he’d never left Britain’s shores as he explored Greece on The Wonders Of The World I Can’t See (Ch4)

Physical: The concept of the show is that a different celebrity describes the tourist sights to Chris each week, and Harry Hill (pictured) is a physical comedian. He made faces, he did crazy dances and it was all wasted

In fact, it was his guide, Harry Hill, who was malfunctioning. The concept of the show is that each week a different celebrity describes the tourist sights to Chris, and Harry is a physical comedian. He made faces, he did crazy dances and it was all wasted.

At one point during a boat trip, he tried to describe a jumping dolphin with a wagging arm. “Do you do actions?” Chris asked wearily.

They did track and field in the original Olympic stadium and made pots, but constantly resorted to childish jokes to say something.

By the end of the journey, the two men had clearly had enough of each other. “I haven’t gone on holiday with a stranger since my honeymoon,” Harry complained. I hope that trip was more fun.