In the first five minutes of National Treasure there were cameo appearances from Robert Webb, Alan Carr and Frank Skinner. But despite appearances this definitely wasn’t a comedy. They were guests at an awards ceremony where veteran entertainer Paul Finchley (Robbie Coltrane) was presenting a gong to his long-time double act partner Karl Jenkins (Tim McInnerny).
The mood was superficially all irreverent jollity, but even if we didn’t know that National Treasure, written by Jack Thorne, is a fictional version of an Operation Yewtree-style investigation, the mood is also dark. Coltrane’s character barely turns on the comic charm as he walks through the studio corridors and an occasional glance at a passing female hints at what might be going on in his mind.
Sure enough, after establishing that he is a normal late middle-aged man in a happy marriage who occasionally nips off to his shed to look at the internet (we don’t see what he is looking at - he might be buying sheds for all we know) the knock at the door comes and things change…
While this is most definitely not based on any cases you may have heard about the lines of fact and fiction are blurred. Yewtree is mentioned and Coltrane’s character talks about the fact that he always steered clear of Jimmy Savile because he knew what he was like.
And gradually, as accusations of rape and sexual assault start to mount, we find more out about Finchley. Without, that is, knowing exactly what he may have done. His life is unravelling whether he is innocent or guilty. He is soon temporarily taken off his daytime gameshow - in an illuminating exchange about TV politics (filmed at C4 - for authenticity or to save on location costs?) he is told he is being temporarily replaced. His expression suggests that he would rather the programme was taken off air - getting a replacement makes him think that if the stand-in does well “temporary” might become “permanent” even if he is cleared.
When you are - literally - as big as Robbie Coltrane it is hard not to give a towering performance, but he is note perfect here. Everything is held in, there is no arrogant bluster. He quietly points out to his wife (Julie Walters - who took a while to find the right accent) that he would be saying he was innocent whether he was innocent or guilty. It is a tribute to the skill of chameleon actor Andrea Riseborough that she utterly upstages him in her big scene as his troubled daughter.
After the first of four episodes you will be hooked. Not just by the drama but because you will want to know what those two big metal discs in the ceiling of the Finchley kitchen are. The consensus on Twitter appeared to suggest that they were hi-tech extractor fans, but as with the drama itself, maybe not everything is as it seems.
National Treasure, C4, Tuesdays, 9pm.
