STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
Nathan Hyde (Nigel Harman) is ekking out a quiet existence in a remote seaside location as a chef, until he starts talking to an attractive woman in the restaurant. One thing leads to another and they end up in bed- but the woman has been a little devious and before he knows it he's taken hostage by helicopter. It's here we learn that Nathan has a bit of an extraordinary past, as an expert evasion expert. Now an organisation known as The Establishment want him to sneak into an island and retrieve a stolen painting. Nathan's doubts are removed when his daughter's safety comes to rest on it...
Long running British soap opera East Enders has never been renowned for it's stellar acting and has yet to produce a Sean Bean or Ben Kingsley. But that doesn't stop some of it's stars, such as hunky Nigel Harman, from trying to avoid disappearing into the realms of panto land forever and so we have The Outsiders, a distracting but totally unmemorable and rather corny take on the spy/world-wide mega-lomaniac premise. The writer is obviously a fan of the sort of spy thrillers that were about a lot in the 60s and the whole idea seems to have been lifted from one that I don't know the name of (it was spoofed on The Simpsons once!) But in trying to make it appeal to a more modern audience, this ITV production has just managed a campy retro feel rather than a trendy new one. **
Nathan Hyde (Nigel Harman) is ekking out a quiet existence in a remote seaside location as a chef, until he starts talking to an attractive woman in the restaurant. One thing leads to another and they end up in bed- but the woman has been a little devious and before he knows it he's taken hostage by helicopter. It's here we learn that Nathan has a bit of an extraordinary past, as an expert evasion expert. Now an organisation known as The Establishment want him to sneak into an island and retrieve a stolen painting. Nathan's doubts are removed when his daughter's safety comes to rest on it...
Long running British soap opera East Enders has never been renowned for it's stellar acting and has yet to produce a Sean Bean or Ben Kingsley. But that doesn't stop some of it's stars, such as hunky Nigel Harman, from trying to avoid disappearing into the realms of panto land forever and so we have The Outsiders, a distracting but totally unmemorable and rather corny take on the spy/world-wide mega-lomaniac premise. The writer is obviously a fan of the sort of spy thrillers that were about a lot in the 60s and the whole idea seems to have been lifted from one that I don't know the name of (it was spoofed on The Simpsons once!) But in trying to make it appeal to a more modern audience, this ITV production has just managed a campy retro feel rather than a trendy new one. **