Hugh Laurie, Helen McCrory, and the Cast Describe the Characters They Bring to Life in Roadkill
by Masterpiece | PBS | November 9, 2020
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Categories Print Media Reviews Roadkill
Hugh Laurie classes up political scandal in David Hare’s new drama, but maybe we’re too scarred to be thrilled
Corrupt politics, greedy public officials failing upward – it’s all so tiresome and depressing, isn’t it?
by Melanie McFarland | November 1, 2020 | Salon.com
“Roadkill,” the latest “Masterpiece” limited series from Oscar-nominated screenwriter and playwright David Hare, tests that theory with prismatic tag-along through the a rocky chapter in British government minister Peter Laurence’s career. Played with a rakish confidence by Hugh Laurie, we’re introduced to Peter as he’s walking out of court, victorious in libel case alleging that he lied about an attempt to use his office for financial gain.
Categories Print Media Reviews Roadkill
Roadkill: Hugh Laurie Plays a Politician Trying to Avoid Cancellation
A brash British populist dealing with a law suit, a love child, a mistress, and a suspicious PM
by Mike Hale | October 30, 2020 | New York Times
Need to lend some charm, suavity and wry humanity to an otherwise objectionable middle-aged British male? Hugh Laurie is your man, filling that neo-George Sanders role in characters both mildly vainglorious (the spaceship captain of “Avenue 5”) and utterly despicable (the arms dealer of “The Night Manager”).
His latest, in the BBC mini-series “Roadkill” (beginning Sunday on PBS’s “Masterpiece”), falls somewhere in between, and trying to guess exactly where is our primary sport across the show’s four episodes. Peter Laurence may be a well-meaning, if destructively narcissistic, politician with a libertarian bent; he may be a soulless monster who doesn’t care about the bodies he leaves behind, perhaps literally, as he claws his way up the government. Laurie’s guarded, superbly understated performance keeps alive to the last moment the possibility that either, or both, might be true.
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Hugh Laurie Delivers in Soapy British Political Drama ‘Roadkill’: TV Review
Soapy British Political Drama Delivers
By Rebecca Strassberg | October 29, 2020 | Variety
We’ve been conditioned — mostly thanks to corruption, greed and a steady abuse of power — to mistrust politicians. For many, skepticism is such a deep-rooted emotion when it comes to the government, even being too trustworthy becomes suspicious. But you need not worry, that isn’t that case for Hugh Laurie’s Peter Laurence, the center of PBS Masterpiece’s saucy political miniseries “Roadkill.” Go ahead and bank on those instincts. What begins as a straightforward story unravels into an interconnected evening soap, better paired with gin than tea and crumpets.
When introduced, well-known political figure Laurence has just won a libel lawsuit. A smug grin from ear to ear, he’s off to discuss it with Mick the Mouth on “Alltalk,” a trashy radio show on which he appears weekly. It seems par for the course these days that a once guarded political figure could go off the rails on the airwaves or social media. High off getting his way in the high court, Laurence says, “People like me because I break the rules,” foreshadowing what’s to come.
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Roadkill reviews: Critics heap praise on Hugh Laurie’s performance
Critics have given ‘Roadkill’ a mostly warm reception
by BBC Staff | October 19, 2020 | BBC News
The four-parter, directed by Line of Duty’s Michael Keillor, stars Laurie as a controversial Conservative minister.
The cast also includes Us actors Saskia Reeves and Iain De Caestecker alongside Peaky Blinders star Helen McCrory.
Critics lauded the performances in the BBC drama but had some caveats, such as the “dodgy dialogue”.
Several newspaper critics bestowed four stars out of five on the first episode, which sees Laurie’s character Peter Laurence battling to stop both his public and private life falling apart against a backdrop of political plotting and intrigue.
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