Masterpiece Contemporary: Page Eight (2011)

Masterpiece Contemporary: Page Eight should be called Masterpiece: Worricker: Page Eight so that it can be searched or linked to the second and third episodes of this BBC/PBS miniseries (Masterpiece: Worricker: Turks & Caicos and Masterpiece: Worricker: Salting the Battlefield). I received the third disc first, learned it was the last disc in a trio, and bumped up the other two discs for prompt arrival. Some might seek this series to see Rachel Weisz, and I would not fault them. (I got it also to see Judy Davis and Alice Krige.) However, the overwhelming star of this series is Bill Nighy, who seems to me to be England's version of Clint Eastwood: taciturn, known to squint (or sniff disparagingly), strategic, and tight-lipped. The Worricker series is not like anything Clint Eastwood has done (except possibly Unforgiven); it is not about action, but it is about a man who holds his cards close to his vest. Nighy is Johnny Worricker, a veteran British spy whose lifelong best friend and boss releases the dossier on an earthshaking political scandal just before he dies, trusting that Johnny will see the investigation through to the end (despite making him chief enemy of the devious British prime minister, played by Ralph Fiennes, and top "homeland security" officials). Worricker begins to set the stage and make a strategic retreat, leading to the second episode, Salting the Battlefield. If you like cerebral (and civil) machinations -- enjoy! 3.5 stars. (8-22-2017)