Prisoner Review (Sky)
Prisoner is the kind of show that’s very easy to start, but as difficult to stop. It’s six episodes and a simple premise with plenty of twists to keep you on your toes right up until the end.
Izuka Hoyle (Boiling Point and Big Boys) plays Amber Todd, a determined prison transportation guard who has to transport serial contract killer Tibor Stone (Tahar Rahim) to Old Bailey to testify against his previous bosses, Pegasus, a powerful criminal organisation. However, everything takes an unexpected turn for the worse when they’re attacked on the way to court. This leaves the duo on the run, resulting in something way more interesting than just a typical police chase story.
A lot of that is down to the core relationship between Stone and Todd, which is incredibly interesting to watch over the show as both evolve in fascinating ways as a result of their situation. Hoyle’s Amber has strong ethics, but ends up willing to break her own code. Whereas Rahim’s Stone is often shown to be a threat to be reckoned with, but eventually has a softer side (or does he?).
The performances of the supporting characters are also incredibly impressive. Eddie Marsan is one of the outstanding members of the wider ensemble cast which forms the NCU, the law enforcement faction in this series. Having the NCU so established within the show really helped to make sure that Pegasus were really emphasised as a real threat. I also thought that Brían F. O’Byrne had a lot of important presence as Harrison Dempsey, whom Stone is due to testify against, with similarly strong performances from his wider team, such as Laurie Davidson and Leonie Benesch.
One of the things I also really liked was that the series never feels bloated in any way. It’s a show that knows what it’s doing. The scenes know how and when to wrap up, information is delivered in a precise fashion, and the fight sequences have just enough style to be meaningful. It’s developed and written by Matt Charman (Bridge of Spies), and I found his writing to be particularly clever at surprising viewers, all without ever feeling like it’s trying too hard. The direction by Otto Bathurst (Peaky Blinders) and Pia Strietmann also made the series often feel urgent in its tone, which fitted the story nicely.
Visually, the show also looked really good. I loved how many different locations it had and how broad it made the world feel, even though we only ever really focus on two characters. The show also arrives at such a good time for Sky Drama, following the success of The Day of the Jackal. There’s clearly an appetite for this kind of slick, character-driven thriller, and Prisoner fits comfortably into that lineage while still carving out its own identity. At no point does it reinvent anything, but it also doesn’t need to.
The only negative about the series is that sometimes, the secondary characters aren’t given the same breathing space that the protagonists get. I really wanted to get behind Olly, Todd’s partner, but often felt that character was only ever really there as a way of heightening the stakes for Todd rather than for any story-specific purpose. Finn Bennet does as well as he can with limited options, but his character never really feels like anything more than a plot point. I thought this was a shame, especially given how well some of the other characters are fleshed out over the course of the season.
In the end, Prisoner is exactly the kind of show Sky does well. It’s expensive enough to feel cinematic, tight enough to binge in one go, and just morally complicated enough to give you something to think about afterwards.
★★★★
Streaming on Sky from April 30th / Izuka Hoyle, Tahar Rahim, Eddie Marsan, Laurie Davidson, Leonie Bensch / Sky Studios, Sky
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