John Simm is such an intelligent and under-rated actor. Not overly suave or good looking, but great at playing the troubled everyman. Here he has a role that fits like a glove: a sacked London journalist (with the clichéd alcohol and drug dependence) forced to return to his home town where his sister Nancy (the superb Olivia Colman) is caring for their father (Jim Broadbent) who has Alzheimer's. The plot follows Simm's character's attempts to solve a mystery from his Dad's past. It's more a study of a fractured family than a great thriller, but I think Simm could read the phone book and be interesting. He's good at conveying wry humour, attraction to the opposite sex, a kind of basic integrity and passion. I'd like to see him in a regular series with some of that salty humour and energy. He's yet to get the profile he deserves.
Review of Exile
