There was a time when, if an American television network took a fancy to a British series, they’d simply license the show for broadcasting here. But when the British sitcom Till Death Do We Part was Americanized as All in the Family, remaking the shows became the standard practice for the US networks (although public television continued the tradition of importing the originals).
One of the latest series undergoing this retooling is the short-lived British police procedural Identity which is currently being remade by ABC with Angela Bassett in the lead. Thanks to Acorn Media, however, there’s no need to wait for the remake because all six episodes of the superlative original series are now available on DVD.
As the title indicates, Identity focuses on the specific crime of identity theft. The pilot episode Second Life (originally broadcast on July 5, 2010), written by series creator Ed Whitmore and directed by Brendan Maher, is an excellent introduction to the series premise and cast. In the gripping cold opening, a London SWAT team has surrounded the house of Iraqwar veteran Justin Curtis (John Hopkins) who is accused of murder. As the police attempt to convince Curtis to surrender peacefully, he claims to have been framed for his crime by someone he calls “Smith” who has stolen his identity. Just as it looks like Curtis is about to take his own life, a police sniper manages to wound him and he’s taken into custody.
After the credits, we meet DSI Martha Lawson (Keeley Hawes) who has been entrusted with forming a special unit devoted exclusively to identity theft cases. She being called on the carpet by her superior DS Anthony Wareing (Shaun Parkes who played David Brent’s boss on the UK version of The Office) because he has a problem with one of the officers she’s requested for the new unit.
The officer in question is DI John Bloom (Aidan Gillen, best known to American audiences as Councilman Tommy Carcetti on The Wire). Bloom has spent the last fifteen years undercover infiltrating one of Britain’s major crime families. Since fifteen years is an extraordinarily long period without direct supervision, Wareing believes Bloom is “damaged goods” who will be unable to work in harmony with a team. Lawson, however, believes Bloom’s experience gives him a unique expertise in dealing with impersonators and convinces Wareing to give him a chance.
As Lawson and Bloom investigate the Curtis case with the aid of fellow team members DC Jose Rodriguez (Elyes Gabel) and computer whiz Tessa Stein (Holly Aird), they discover two other people – one in prison, the other dead by her own hand – accused of murders who claimed they were innocent victims of identity theft. One thing that the two others had in common was that they were having extramarital affairs.
Convinced that this must be the connection between the three cases, Bloom interrogates Curtis who reluctantly admits that he’s been having a gay affair with a fellow Iraq veteran whose life he saved. Armed with the knowledge that all of the accused were leading double lives, Bloom concludes that “Smith” not only exists, but also that he has set out on a vendetta against those he has judged to be deserving of punishment. A very personal vendetta…
Identity is available from Amazon.
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