THE "HIDDEN" WORLD OF HARRY VENN!

Disturbing and dangerous events for Thekla Reuten, Philip Glenister and David Suchet in the new London-based conspiracy thriller HIDDEN. Image: BBC.

His beloved and iconic role as seventies and eighties ball busting, criminal chasing legend Gene Hunt may now be over with the completion of the time travel/detective series LIFE ON MARS and its sequel ASHES TO ASHES (with his distinctive fiery red Audi Quatro finally put in lock up storage alongside him!), but respected actor Philip Glenister isn't one to rest on his laurels and has continued to make the kind of high quality and compulsive TV productions that everyone wants to see. First off, there was the ensemble drama of four friends on holiday soon caught in nightmare from hell scenario: MAD DOGS (of which a second season, continuing on from its cliff-hanger, is in pre-production to commence on SKY ONE HD sometime next year), and now sees a new four part conspiracy thriller, HIDDEN, written by Irish screen writer Ronan Bennet (with input from Glenister himself), and showing on BBC One and HD from tonight at 9pm, which has its soiled feet firmly set in todays economically depressed, conspiracy ridden and thoroughly immoral, corrupted world of London politics, bankers and money brokers. Glenister plays Harry Venn, a debt ridden, boozy, drug taking solicitor getting by- a man with a criminal past who's no stranger to any any of the moral grey areas that the city streets, indeed the world, now present, and whose opportunities he has exploited to his own benefit over the last few years. But then, despite his now bottom of the barrel status, things suddenly get even more interesting. Enter a mysterious lawyer, Gina Hawkes (played by Thekla Reuten), who asks him to find a missing witness to act as an alibi for a client of hers accused of murder: a man who turns out to be an old friend from Venn's re-awakened dark past. From this begins a series of major twists and turns plot-wise that threaten to escalate to a volcanic point where not only the main players are endangered, but also the entire country!

A more than relevant story for todays audiences, with dark overtones that ring truer than ever, THE HIDDEN, described as a modern noir thriller of sorts, is more than backed up by Glenister's always charismatic, intense and fist in your face acting style, alongside a quality support cast that includes David Suchet (as a powerful QC) and "Posh Totty" Anna Chancellor (as a media mogul to make Rupert Murdoch proud!), part of a mission statement for quality drama of the type the BBC has always done so well. If you've enjoyed recent small screen successes like the corporation's complex, highly stylized THE SHADOW LINE, PAGE EIGHT and THE EXILE, you'll bound to get satisfyingly caught up in this, too...