The first episode of this drama series could have fallen into all the traps that recreations of modern history, and ancient history for that matter, fall into: Glib unrealistic portrayals of character; ridiculous over simplification; and sloppy historical inaccuracies. Alex Holmes with his production team and a brilliant cast avoided this brilliantly in the light of one over-riding handicap they had - All of us have our preconceptions and our own sketchy 'take' on the Saddam sagas presented by the media and by governments over the last 25 years in various forms of uneven levels of factual integrity, political expediency and rigor. Amazingly, despite this, I was able to accept the inevitable economies of scale limiting Holmes and his ingenious team, and was spellbound by the simple exposition of Saddam's corrupt, and corrupting modus operandi. The family dynamic was cleverly integrated with the political backdrop and viewers more interested in the subtext will not be disappointed. A grisly reminder that we have lived through an era when monsters exist within the human race and our world seems to be reluctant to learn from history and be more alert to their ability to operate, and cause tragedy and mayhem while we too often watch and allow them. Great telly too on a straightforward entertainment level.
