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Hugh Laurie classes up political scandal in David Hare’s new drama, but maybe we’re too scarred to be thrilled

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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

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Corrupt politics, greedy public officials failing upward – it’s all so tiresome and depressing, isn’t it?But damn if it doesn’t go down more smoothly in a British accent. Usually, I should say.

“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.

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Categories Print Media Reviews Roadkill

Roadkill: Hugh Laurie Plays a Politician Trying to Avoid Cancellation

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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

In “Roadkill,” Hugh Laurie plays a British politician who sold furniture and real estate before becoming a member of Parliament.
Credit…PBS, via Associated Press

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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Categories Print Media Reviews Roadkill

Roadkill reviews: Critics heap praise on Hugh Laurie’s performance

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Critics have given ‘Roadkill’ a mostly warm reception 

by BBC Staff | October 19, 2020 | BBC News
Hugh Laurie as Laurence Peter
The Telegraph said Hugh Laurie was “charismatic” as fictional MP Peter Laurence

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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