London Spy, BBC2 - TV review: With the body-in-bag drama done, this compelling series came into its own

This spy thriller with a love story at its heart ramped up several satisfying notches

Ben Whishaw as Danny in London Spy (BBC)

The few sad people who complained about the post-watershed, softly lit, realistic gay sex scene in the opener of London Spy would have been pleased to note there was no more man-on-man action this week. But alas, as Tom Rob Smith’s script opened up from bleak love story into a compelling spy drama, the evidence of foul play hinged on nookie. Ben Whishaw’s Danny was sure his boyfriend was bumped off and framed as a masochistic sex fiend. He argued that Alex/Alistair could not have been into gimp masks and bondage – as the attic sex room discovered would imply – because when it came down to it, he didn’t know what he was doing in bed. He insisted this to journalists (error, error) and then Alex/Alistair’s intellectual aristo mother Frances (Charlotte Rampling), whose character appeared to have swallowed Rampling’s Broadchurch incarnation QC Jocelyn Knight’s legal dictionary.

It turned out Alex/Alistair was from proper Downton Abbey-esque posh stock. His parents’ home had a moat, a maze and staff, who for a weird night pretended to be Alex/Alistair’s parents to try and warn Danny off the scent. Their countryside was even lonelier than the city thanks to director Jakob Verbruggen’s (The Bridge, The Fall) relentlessly dark and shadowy settings. Even when it was light it felt oppressive.

Last week, I wasn’t convinced by wooden, other-worldy Alex/Alistair, but now I’m hooked on his story. Whishaw’s compelling as inarticulate (the opposite of his usual roles), complicated Danny and Jim Broadbent is on sparkling form as Scottie, his former spy pal with secrets in the closet. I think comparisons with the real-life spy-in-the-bag case will wain and the conversation can become about a very good telly programme – with espionage stuff providing the twists and turns but one with a love story at its heart. Why is everyone lying? What’s the mysterious device retrieved from the crime scene that Danny is at pains to hide? How had the undeniably hot Alex/Alistair managed to stay a virgin for three decades? God knows, but I’ll keep watching.