Kidnap and Ransom

"Kidnap and Ransom" is an exciting series out of Britain.

Trevor Eve plays Dominic King, a war hero who is now a hostage negotiator. Corporations take out insurance policies on their most important people in certain countries in case they are kidnapped.

I'll say right off, I did love these episodes but I don't understand corporations doing this -- doesn't it just invite people in countries like India to kidnap important employees? In fact, that's what it looks like on the show because it seems like these kidnappers all have big paydays.

Dominic King makes a deal with the kidnappers, sometimes for less money, as long as the victim is kept alive and returned.

These two episodes (both in three parts) are negotiations that, let's say, don't go so well. Both are bone-chilling, suspenseful, and thrilling. I wish there were more.

Trevor Eve is wonderful as a solemn, quiet man, not without his own problems in his marriage and with his daughter. When he negotiates, it's with an iron glove rather than a fist -- he remains calm and measured throughout.

All of the acting is very good, with Eve taking top honors. In the second episode, Sharon Small from Inspector Lynley has a role as the daughter of people stuck on a hijacked bus.

Highly recommended.

No doubt about the theme of this series as the title tells you all you need to know about the subject matter. There were just two series of three episodes each and both are excellent. Trevor Eve, who first came to my attention as Eddie Shoestring over forty years ago, plays a hostage negotiator in a very calm and controlled manner, he is great in the role and incidentally, his real life wife, Sharon Maughan, has a small part in the first series as an executive in a pharma company. The first series is set in South Africa and the second India, making for plenty of exotic location shots. The story's are fast paced with twists along the way. A great watch, a pity they stopped after six episodes.

There's not much to the story so they pad it with lots of shaky cam, extreme badly framed close ups, weird flashy edits overlayed with odd photo filter effects. You're supposed to be swept up in the urgency of harsh jagged cuts from scene to scene most of which are 45 seconds or less. The average shot is 1 second. There are all sorts of factual errors such South Africans kidnapping a Brit asking for dollars which is not a denomination in either country.

Dominic's boss is a tool who screams and scolds him about nearly everything. And at the end of the day being a hostage negotiator doesn't look that hard. Pretty much paint by numbers. By the way if you're so valuable to your company they'd carry millions of dollars in kidnap insurance wouldn't they hire a bodyguard?

I do agree one or two parts are on the far-fetched side, and the ending could have been more. But Kidnap and Ransom made for quite gripping television and I was really impressed.

Visually it is very striking, not just the photography which is skillful and the lighting which adds to the atmosphere but also the locations which are well chosen and used to great effect. The story is well paced and very gripping with some suitably tense moments, there is a cracking script and good direction.

The acting also impresses, Trevor Eve is excellent in the lead as is John Hannah as the main villain. Emma Fielding is also smashing, evoking genuine emotion when she needed to. The characters are credible too, there is the odd cliché here and there, but with the writing and acting as good as they are I actually didn't mind.

Overall, a very gripping, interesting and well-acted series drama and definitely worth it. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Dominic King is sent in to dangerous situations, when only the best hostage negotiator will do.

This is a series that grows on you, I spend the whole of the first episode moaning about how Waking the Dead had been axed, and how Trevor Eve was being wasted in this show, by episode two, I had forgotten that, and become engrossed in the story.

It's perhaps a little guilty of being a one trick pony in parts, they seem to force the kidnap and ransom scenario into the plot a few times, but it helps keep the show interesting.

Three episodes per series is about right, it allows it to progress at a nice pace, it looks great, the location work is superb, it's superbly acted, and gives you lots of twists and turns.

I'm glad they didn't try and run it for too long, the format is very limited, but both series are worth watching. 7/10.