The Driver, BBC1 - TV review: This series keeps getting better
I don't know where this journey's going to end, but I fear the worst
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Your support makes all the difference.When cabbie Vince McKee (David Morrissey) accepted a job driving for local "businessman" the Horse (Colm Meaney), he hoped to relieve the boredom of the daily grind. Well, he's certainly done that.
As this week's episode opened, Vince had been lured away from his anniversary dinner by old convict pal Col (Ian Hart) and embroiled in a kidnap and murder attempt. "Just so you know," said Col to a traumatised Vince as they drove away from the crime scene, "The Horse didn't ask for you. I just wanted company." Viewers who stuck with BBC1 series The Driver, after last week's muted opener have been rewarded; this series keeps getting better (read: ever more tense).
It's been fascinating to watch Hart's character evolve in Vince's perception from harmless cheeky chappie to reckless liability to sinister homicidal psychopath, but Hart isn't the only impressive member of The Driver's support cast. Vince's cabbie mate, who dresses like he's in an Oasis tribute band and always has a different sexcapade to regale his colleagues with should have his own spin-off series. Perhaps featuring Vince's equally colourful boss Amjad (Harish Patel).
It's still David Morrissey's star that shines the brightest, however. If The Driver had continued along the same road, Vince's litany of bad decisions might soon have grown wearing, but this episode's mood of woozy paranoia was more psychological horror than hapless heist movie. Vince was tormented by waking nightmares, convinced he was being watched by the new neighbours and powerless to save his son from the clutches of a cult-like commune based on the outskirts of town. It's difficult to predict how this series will conclude next week (as should be the case with any well-written drama), but the view from inside Vince McKee's head is looking pretty bleak.
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