Safe House, review: Fingernail chewingly tense

As entertaining as it’s been so far, my one gripe would be the show’s curious habit of solving mysteries almost as soon as they surface

Safe House episode 2 (ITV)

It’s not safe is it, that house? It’s not safe at all. In fact, it’s only a matter of time before the hipster beard wearing psychopath Michael (Peter Ferdinando) catches up with the Blackwell family in their Lake District hideaway and it’s doubtful that he just fancies going hiking with them.

There’s a lot that’s familiar about Michael Crompton’s Safe House (tormented policeman wracked with guilt about final case that went wrong, for instance), and it could do with losing some of the horror movie soundtrack at times, but it’s fingernail chewingly tense and, so far, absorbing television. And that house is going to feature big time, sooner or later.

This week we learnt the real depth of Robert’s (Christopher Eccleston, looking every inch the Cotswold Outdoor catalogue model in his natty cagoules) relationship with Susan Reynolds (Kelly Harrison), who’s murder he failed to prevent. It’s this failure that so haunts the craggy Robert, who showed just how damaged he is by the affair by hurtling himself, fully clothed, into a freezing cold lake when he thought that the Blackwell children might have been in danger.

Robert’s desperate to make amends, and is clearly spoiling for a fight (and he’s bound to get a hipster beard-shaped one), which makes him a volatile presence. Get him to run a safe house? Sure, what could possibly go wrong?

Elsewhere the plot became more tangled than a pair of headphones you’ve had in your pocket for two minutes, with every character seeming to know more than they’re letting on. While we got to the bottom of dad David’s (Jason Merrells) secrets, it’s clear that mum Ali (Nicola Stephenson) knows something, and I have Derwentwater sized suspicions about copper, and old friend, Mark (Paterson Joseph). He’s a slippery one and I for one am bunging a tenner on his involvement in the whole affair.

As entertaining as it’s been so far, my one gripe would be the show’s curious habit of solving mysteries almost as soon as they surface, dispersing some of the tension and intrigue before it’s even had a chance to take hold. Teenager Louisa (Harriet Cains) stole her phone back and began texting her boyfriend, giving Michael a method with which to track the family down. However, in a flash Robert had her using the phone to turn the tables on Michael and attempt to find his location.

There was also some drama about Louisa possibly being pregnant and Mark hiding a piece of evidence from the Susan Reynolds murder. But, again, both were explained away almost instantly before the implications became really juicy. However, crime dramas are always filled with misdirection, so perhaps I’m merely enthusiastically chasing after every red herring?

Whatever the case, Michael is destined for that house and Robert is going to need a lot more than a snazzy waterproof jacket to protect the Blackwells.