The Little Drummer Girl: What the reviewers think

Tuesday 23 October 2018, 10:32

(Photo: BBC/The Little Drummer Girl Distribution Limited)

Our Must Watch TV reviewers this week are Scott Bryan, TV Editor at Buzzfeed and Emma Bullimore, from TV Times. They're sharing their thoughts on the new BBC One drama, The Little Drummer Girl.

What did you think? Leave your reviews below...

Emma says: "It's a meaty, packed, first episode"

"Terrible title isn't it? I know they can't change that but it doesn't make you want to watch it - it has nothing to do with the story.

"Don't let it put you off though - this is not as sexy, glamorous, or fun as The Night Manager.

"It's set in the 1970s, so it's a visual feast.

"This will be a lot of people's introduction to Florence Pugh but she is brilliant. She plays an actress and is taken on a job to Greece which initially seems like a holiday, but they get caught up in something. There's lots going on.

"It's a meaty, packed, first episode - but it sets you up well for the rest of the series which is where most of the action takes place.

"There's lots to like here. It's not a starry cast but it's perfect Sunday night fare."

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Watch the trailer for The Little Drummer Girl

Scott says: "I was sucked in from the very first scene"

"I thought it was a brilliant opener.

"The Night Manager was brought right up to date from the original book and was a sexy thriller - it was really impressive.

"With this, it's a completely different and intriguing world. At first I thought I was going to be rather bogged down in a lot of historical context - for example, there's a lot about East Germany/ West Germany, the Soviet Union, the USA, Israel-Palestine - and I thought you'd need a lot of prerequisite knowledge to understand what's going on.

"What is great about this is that they have a fairly easy-to-follow drama, in terms of the actual episode, without having to have this historical knowledge within you - yet it feels like it has a depth to it.

"Everything about it is sublime - the music, the whole sort of feel.

"Every other week there's another new spy drama - the fact that this is set in the 1970s and you can't use a mobile phone, a computer - it uses the old-fashioned techniques of spying and espionage."