{"id":80204,"date":"2025-10-17T07:59:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T07:59:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/80204\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T07:59:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T07:59:16","slug":"gosh-the-iris-affair-is-hard-to-follow-but-tom-hollander-is-so-good-in-it-i-dont-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/80204\/","title":{"rendered":"Gosh, The Iris Affair is hard to follow, but Tom Hollander is so good in it I don\u2019t care"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you don\u2019t admire Tom Hollander for his tremendous acting ability, you should at least love him for his A Life in the Day<\/a> contribution to The Sunday Times in 2020. <\/p>\n

In this article, should you need a reminder, he said that he wakes daily at 3 or 4am, not to do 100 press-ups or drink a kale smoothie, but because \u201cI need to pee\u201d. Later, he stares at his bald patch and, if it\u2019s raining, he \u201cmight masturbate\u201d. It was an excellent, honest rebuttal to those who use such opportunities to grandstand boringly about their gym routines, meditation practices or protein shake intake, which is probably why it proved so popular. <\/p>\n

I imagine Hollander had to rein in his natural scepticism a fair bit while making The Iris Affair (Sky Atlantic\/Now) because, although it\u2019s a raucous, cerebral and sometimes witty thriller, there are occasions when it is hammier than the Muncaster Sausage Festival.<\/p>\n

\u2022 The Ipcress File review \u2014 Tom Hollander shines in stylish remake, but did we need one?<\/a><\/p>\n

He stars alongside Niamh Algar and it\u2019s a good job these two are there because often, due to the jumping time frames and abstruse mathematics, it\u2019s hard to follow. It is only Hollander\u2019s and Algar\u2019s charisma, dry humour and screen heft that keeps me watching. Don\u2019t expect to take it seriously because it is pretty much mad, but you can enjoy the dialogue and the gorgeous Italian and Sardinian backdrops, which contrast with the very ungorgeous violence and grey interior scenes of a James Bondish bunker in Slovenia. Why are futuristic bunker interiors always grey? Can\u2019t someone brighten the place up with some nice pastels from the Dulux chart?<\/p>\n

Algar plays a seemingly emotionless genius called Iris who is on the run with a bounty on her head, having stolen a notebook that contains the encrypted activation code to wake up the world\u2019s most powerful computer, sorry \u201ctopological quantum device\u201d, which is called Charlie Big Potatoes. I\u2019m not making it up. Cameron Beck (Hollander) is the venture capitalist behind the computer, of which he is very fond and says will \u201cthink thoughts that have yet to be thought\u201d. Eh? But thoughts are in your head. How do you know that nobody else has thought them? I imagine Charlie Big Potatoes\u2019 biggest thought is: \u201cWhy did you give me a name that sounds like a 1970s porn star?\u201d<\/p>\n

But the computer has been developing its own neural pathway \u2014 ie, growing its own brain \u2014 which is not such great news for humanity. All this taps into our fears about AI becoming too intelligent and eventually our evil overlord. <\/p>\n

Neil Cross, the creator of Luther, has written what is basically an action thriller with shades of Doctor Who (if Doctor Who had ever featured Niamh Algar threatening to cut off a man\u2019s penis), and Prime Target, in which Leo Woodall played a maths genius who discovers a pattern in prime numbers that could break all computer security in the world. <\/p>\n

\u2022 Feud: Capote vs the Swans review \u2014 Tom Hollander\u2019s portrayal is mesmeric<\/a><\/p>\n

What we can deduce from this is that TV likes to make geniuses very beautiful people, as Woodall and Algar are, and not nerds in poorly knitted tank tops and jam-jar-bottom spectacles. At one point Algar emerges from the sea like Honey Ryder in Dr No, although her bikini is black, not white. She then proceeds to steal tourists\u2019 belongings and open their phones in that way that only happens in TV dramas.<\/p>\n

Should you watch it? Well, it\u2019s daft and needlessly complicated, little in the plot would stand up to scrutiny and it features a supervillain who is so comically evil that I quite liked him.<\/p>\n

But the dialogue is clever, and it\u2019s a lovely, nuanced turn from Hollander as someone who seems like a total baddie (we first meet him having a police officer beaten to death, a scene I had to fast-forward) but who has hidden depths of humanity. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s nowhere near any of his masterpieces, such as his portrayal of Truman Capote, but watching Hollander is rarely time wasted. It\u2019s also a pretty mesmeric performance by Algar as a woman with \u201ca brain the size of a planet\u201d (bit of a clich\u00e9, no?) yet whose disguise tactics stretch only to wearing coloured contact lenses and popping on a bucket hat. <\/p>\n

\u2022 The top 10 Tom Hollander roles \u2014 from The White Lotus to The Night Manager<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s also a good comic turn from Sacha Dhawan as Alfie, a buffoonish YouTuber\/conspiracy theorist who is trying to track down Iris, and good performances from Mer\u00e9ana Tomlinson as Joy, the young woman Iris was tutoring, and Kristofer Hivju (Tormund in Game of Thrones) as Jensen, the half-demented genius who built Charlie Big Potatoes. But if you are going to last the full eight episodes prepare yourself to suspend a great, great deal of disbelief.<\/p>\n

I love dogs. I love TV shows about dogs. I cried when Paul O\u2019Grady died and I dare not say how I\u2019d punish those lowlifes who beat, starve and dump animals because I\u2019d get a knock on the door from the bad thoughts police. <\/p>\n

I also think Pete Wicks, formerly of The Only Way Is Essex, is a true dog devotee. You can\u2019t fake those looks of genuine love or authentic distress at something that you know will make him lose sleep that night. Nor can you feign that willingness to bury your face in a dog\u2019s fur even when it\u2019s stinky from neglect. Some people\u2019s reaction to a big slobbery hound is disgust and a concern for their trousers. A real dog lover immediately wants to kiss it on the chops.<\/p>\n

\"Pete<\/p>\n

Pete Wicks immerses himself in the emotional world of dog care in For Dogs\u2019 Sake<\/p>\n

UKTV<\/p>\n

But, oh dear lord, why the hell do the makers of Pete Wicks: For Dogs\u2019 Sake (U&W) ruin their show with the atrocious, honking background songs they play at every emotional moment as if we, the viewers, are such imbeciles that we need to be told: \u201cWake up, sofa morons! Sad bit now! Time to have some \u2018feels\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2022 Read more TV reviews, guides about what to watch and interviews<\/a><\/p>\n

I do think that the sort of people who tune into a show about the Dogs Trust can work out for themselves that four puppies being dumped in a suitcase in a terrible state by some scumbag does not equal \u201chappy times\u201d. I don\u2019t think they need a wailing musical signpost that sounds like one of those terrible songs on The X Factor to tell them that a gorgeous young Italian mastiff in need of a home has a heart condition giving him 18 months to live, tops, should tug on your heartstrings. Consider them tugged.<\/p>\n

Wicks is good at this role, despite saying things such as, \u201cI\u2019m literally obsessed.\u201d He should tell the programme makers to tone down the awful music and let the viewers listen to the actual dogs and the lovely rescuers, which is why we\u2019re here. So, in summary: love the dogs, hate the caterwauling.<\/p>\n

Love TV? Discover the best shows on Netflix<\/a>, the best Prime Video TV shows<\/a>, the best Disney+ shows<\/a> , the best Apple TV+ shows<\/a>, the best shows on BBC iPlayer<\/a>, the best shows on Sky and Now<\/a>, the best shows on ITVX<\/a>, the best shows on Channel 4<\/a> streaming, the best shows on Paramount+<\/a> and our favourite hidden gem TV shows<\/a>. Don\u2019t forget to check our critics\u2019 choices to watch<\/a> and browse our comprehensive TV guide<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you don\u2019t admire Tom Hollander for his tremendous acting ability, you should at least love him for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":80205,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[458,146,85,46],"class_list":["post-80204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=80204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=80204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=80204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=80204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}