Thursday 28 November 2019

Gold Digger

This 6-part mystery/drama/thriller is currently running on BBC1 on Tuesday nights, but you can skip ahead and watch all 6 episodes if you're impatient, like me, via the BBC iPlayer. I won't give away any plot spoilers.

It's a decent enough little story lifted from the ordinary by the main two leads, Julia Ormond and Ben Barnes. Their performances are both well executed and remain convincing throughout.

Julia is 60 and Benjamin's half her age. They both keep their real first names. How quaint. She has 3 grown-up kids with various problems of their own and Julia has just undergone a divorce. Julia and Benjamin meet by chance and fall in love. Julia is wealthy. Her kids think he's a Gold Digger, so does her ex-husband, who is now together with a new woman. They work together to try to find out about Benjamin and ultimately try to hijack the relationship in order to 'protect' Julia instead of wishing her happiness.

And then all the sub-plots come along - as you might imagine, nothing is quite as it seems and everyone has something up their sleeve!

The series is really about loyalty and truth. Who is Julia going to be loyal to - her family, her feelings, her new lover? Who is Benjamin going to be loyal to? Is he telling the truth about his intentions and background? Or is he indeed a Gold Digger on the make?

It holds together pretty well, though episodes 4 and 5 slow things down before 6 ties things up. Probably could have been done in 4. It's thoughtfully produced and directed, well acted, give or take, by the cast and throws enough questions into the proceedings to ensure the viewer hangs on in there until the end.

It's great to see Julia Ormond again and if you haven't dipped into this one, I think you'll enjoy it dear reader! Unlike some other BBC programmes which have been doing the rounds lately, this one seems to be of better stock. Catch it while you can.

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