National Treasure, a new Channel 4 drama about a television presenter accused of a past sex crimes, is troublingly close to real events, but aims for complexity over tabloid platitudes.
The four-part drama, which started last night, is scripted by This is England and Skins writer Jack Thorne and stars Robbie Coltrane as Paul Finchley, a comedian in the twilight of his career who is accused of committing a series of rapes in the past.
Julie Walters co-stars as his wife, Marie, alongside Andrea Riseborough as their daughter, Dee, and Blackadder's Tim McInnerny, who plays Paul's former comedy partner, Karl.
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"It can't have been too hard for writer Jack Thorne to find inspiration for the comedian on trial here," says Sam Wollaston in The Guardian, adding that "a dark, Yewtree-shaped shadow hangs over it" – a reference to the real-life investigations into historic sex abuse.
The drama is "real to the core", including the events, the police investigation, the fishing, the press and the issues, he continues, while Finchley – "extraordinarily" portrayed by Coltrane - is "not simply a monster, to be run out of town by the mob, but a complex character who demands, if not sympathy, then at least some attempt at understanding".
What's apparent throughout this "dark" and "gripping" drama is the amount of research Thorne has put in, says Morgan Jeffrey on Digital Spy. Where it really shows is in the little details, such as when Finchley's interrogator pretends to be a fan, to flatter him and convince him to open up, which is drawn from a real officer's testimony.
In fact, a surprising amount of National Treasure is drawn from real life, continues the critic. The result is "unflinching without feeling exploitative, brought to incredibly authentic life".
"Actually, National Treasure suffers conceptually from our over-familiarity with real-life narratives," says Andrew Billen in The Times. When Finchley laments, "They think I am Jimmy f***ing Savile", we are "just as likely to think he is Rolf Harris or Stuart Hall or, equally, the exonerated Paul Gambaccini or Jim Davidson", says the journalist.
Some will watch to see if Finchley is guilty, but to keep us interested it has to offer us something more, like "a compulsive lead character", adds Billen, concluding that fortunately, it's off to strong start with Coltrane in the title role.
Indeed, the subject of historical abuse of children by famous entertainers is "so raw" that it is easy for a television drama to get it wrong, says Jasper Rees in the Daily Telegraph. But this "hefty landmark drama", with a "superb" Coltrane, favours "troubling psychological complexity over soothing moral platitudes".
Perhaps as National Treasure unfolds, we'll also find out something new about ourselves, suggests Rees, such as why the historic crimes of entertainers caused such "a convulsion to the British psyche" or why we eschewed the principle of presumed innocence? "This is an utterly compelling case of 'wait and see'."
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