Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Deadline’ On BritBox, Where A Disgraced Journalist Gets Very Involved In The Case Of An Accused Murderer

Investigators getting romantically involved with people they’re investigating seems to be something that only happens on TV or in the movies. Despite the potential eye-rolling situations such a plot can generate, there is also the potential for a tense psychological plot. A new series has a true crime documentary director involved with the woman who’s at the center of a murder he’s making a film about.

DEADLINE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A gloved hand furiously looks through drawers, looking for a document. As he does, someone approaches him with the base of a heavy statue raised; the female hand hits the man on the face and he falls down, busing his head open as he does it.

The Gist: We pan back and see that scene is a dramatic reenactment from a true crime documentary. In the editing bay is James Alden (James D’Arcy), who is directing the documentary about the case against Natalie Varga (Charlie Murphy), who has been dominating the tabloids since she was accused of killing her wealthy husband.

His producer and close friend, Barbara Curtis (Indra Ové), wants the former investigative journalist to get an interview with the “Black Widow,” but he feels that’s next to impossible. She won’t even answer questions during a press conference, which indicates to James that she did it. But he gets a surprise call from Barbara that Varga wants to talk to him about the possibility of an interview.

When he arrives at her gated mansion, he finds that Varga comes off as someone who just wants her name cleared. She does tell him that everything they do must be approved by her legal advisor, Mrs. Molnar (Anamaria Marinca), who is the one who vetted the shortlist of journalists that Varga should talk to. When Varga asks Alden why he doesn’t do investigative journalism anymore, he says he had to switch in order to find work, but the reality of why he doesn’t do it anymore is written all over his face.

Varga gives him one other condition to her participation: She wants him to find out who killed her husband. Of course, it makes no sense for the director of a documentary about Varga’s case to also investigate the case for the accused killer, but for some reason, Alden finds Varga compelling, albeit “a bloody good actress.”

During the first interview for the documentary, Varga reveals that her twin brother committed suicide via an overdose, and right as she starts opening up, Molnar shuts things down and asks for the SD cards the interview was recorded on, per their agreement with Alden. She also gives Alden the first person to talk to for his investigation: Vera (Nina Senicar), a friend who claims Varga was with her at the time of the murder.

Some information Vera gives him about her relationship with Varga makes its way into the second interview, which surprises Varga but also makes her trust him more. He promises her that he’ll be fair with her story, despite still thinking she did it.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Deadline gives off similar vibes to The Sinner, especially after that series’ first season.

Our Take: Written by Barunka O’Shaughnessy and Gareth Tunley, the four-episode first season of Deadline struggles to find the right tone in its first episode. There’s a bit of a slight lightness to the storytelling that feels out of place, especially in scenes where James and Barbara, who once tried to date but as he tells Varga, found that they’re “better as friends,” are pursuing the case together. Then, it feels like a typical British buddy detective series.

But the thrust of the show is not only how deeply and inappropriately involved Alden gets with Varga and her case, but how Alden struggles with his past and the reason why he stopped being an investigative journalist. Yes, his involvement with Varga and the case can lead to some logical leaps and some eye-rolling coincidences; there are moments in the first episode where the journalist in us found Alden’s decision making ridiculous. We can accept that, to an extent, mainly because Alden has compromised himself before.

It just feels like the show doesn’t know where it wants to go. Is it a psychological thriller or a police procedural? Despite fine performances from D’Arcy, Murphy and Ové, by the end of its first episode, Deadline feels like it’s poised to fly off the rails rather than actually giving audiences a taut, twisty thriller.

Sex and Skin: None in the first episode.

Parting Shot: Alden is called to Varga’s home, and she’s sitting in her room, despondent. That’s when she tells him who she thinks killed her husband, which proves to be quite a surprise.

Sleeper Star: Ové does a good job as Barbara, because she seems to be the only one even trying to keep Alden in check.

Most Pilot-y Line: There’s a scene in Alden’s sparse flat where he’s putting two dress shirts up against himself in the mirror to see which he likes better. But then we don’t see him wearing any during the interviews with Varga.

Our Call: SKIP IT. While there are good performances throughout Deadline, the mixed tone is enough of a turn off that it’ll make the viewers less inclined to buy the thriller aspects of the series.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.