BAIT (DECEIT)

The miscarriage of justice drama on film or TV has certain conventions.

Mostly it focuses on the wrongly accused.

It almost always features the cut and thrust of a court case.

Most miscarriage of justice dramas also show the victim serving their time in prison while a determined journalist or lawyer digs around for the truth in an effort to set him or her free.

Emilia di Girolamo's Channel 4 drama 'Deceit' doesn't abide by those rules.

The four part miniseries focuses instead on investigators who went down a wrong path with tragic consequences.

di Girolamo and director Niall MacCormick's thriller is based on the investigation into the shocking murder of Rachel Nickell in London in 1992.

In an attack that rattled the British public, the 23 year old mother was walking on Wimbledon Common with her two year old son when she was stabbed.

The lengthy and controversial police investigation that followed zoned in on one suspect, Colin Stagg who was known to walk his dog on the Common.

MacCormick and di Girolamo fashion their fictional reworking of the investigation around the undercover police officer at the heart of the operation to catch Stagg known as Lizzie James.

The fictionalised version of James is given the name of Sadie Byrne and portrayed by the always impressive Niamh Algar.

At the start of di Girolamo's drama, Sadie is working undercover in a Met operation to infiltrate a drugs gang.

She hangs out with drug dealers, seducing one and going to a rundown squat where Rochenda Sandall's fellow undercover cop Lucy is hanging out.

It doesn't take long before it is raided by police, with Sadie being roughed up, thrown into a cell and then released - having helped to catch the target of the operation.

Returning to their colleagues after busting the drugs gang, Lucy and Sadie trade knowing looks as their boss, El Anthony's Mark da Costa takes all the credit for the operation and the female officers, who put their lives on the line, go unrecognised.

Sadie, however, is excited when she is told to report to Harry Treadway's DI Keith Pedder to discuss how she can help in the high profile investigation into the murder of Rachel Nickell.

Pedder tells her that his investigation has identified Sion Daniel Young's Colin Stagg as the most likely suspect but they need to secure a confession from him if they are to progress a prosecution.

Eddie Marsan's forensic psychologist Paul Britton had been called in to design a sophisticated operation to lure Stagg into admitting he is responsible.

However it requires an undercover woman officer to lull Stagg into a false sense of security.

Pedder and Britton want Sadie to play a key part in their honey trap operation to reel in their prime suspect.

Sadie does that by adopting the persona of Lizzie James and initially sending letters, offering to engage in violent sexual fantasies with him.

Stagg is flattered by the unsolicited attention and desperately takes the bait.

However Sadie is also seduced into believing the operation will enable her to make her mark as a police officer and secure recognition from her peers.

She willingly agrees to take part in Operation Ezdell, believing it will propel her career.

Letters are exchanged containing lurid sexual fantasies and Stagg's responses are analysed by Britton as the product of a disturbed, sexually deviant mind.

Soon Stagg is trading phone calls with Sadie's alter ego, Lizzie which are recorded. 

A number of rendezvous also take place where she tries to get him to admit while wearing a wire to having been involved in the murder.

But while Stagg is clearly turned on by Lizzie, securing an admission proves elusive.

Consumed by the case, Sadie's fixation with securing a confession starts to impact her life away from the frontline - she starts to drink heavily on her own, her flat is strewn with papers, videos and tapes of Stagg and she is brought to the edge of becoming a recluse.

Her behaviour increasingly concerns Lucy and Nathaniel Martello-White's Baz who struggle to help her switch off from her work and try to keep her grounded.

The real tragedy of 'Deceit' is that all the while Lizzie, Pedder and Britton are obsessed with ensnaring Stagg in Operation Ezdell, the real culprit, Jack Riddiford's Robert Napper is walking free waiting to strike again, which he does, with devastating consequences.

MacCormick and di Girolamo's miniseries upends the miscarriage of justice drama by playing with many familiar serial killer dramatic conventions, with Sadie having nightmares when she is not undercover.

There is no doubt McCormick is a stylish filmmaker and he elicits a barnstorming central performance from Algar that certainly dominates proceedings.

As Sadie struggles with the demands of her alter ego and her desire to be recognised for her skills in a male dominated profession, Algar demonstrates Harvey Keitel style levels of commitment to the role.

McCormick also understands the psychology of the close-up and he  shoots a lot of the encounters in an intelligently lit, almost claustrophobic way with the help of cinematographer Jan Jonaeus.

However the drama also struggles with some very jarring choices on behalf of its writer, director and cast.

Marsan's depiction of Britton, in particular, is a big weakness which is surprising from one of Britain's most intelligent and reliable character actors.

With his cold, academic aura and his insistence on stirring Sadie's cups of tea during their encounters, he feels creepier than most serial killers depicted onscreen and that is quite distracting. 

Sandall is criminally underused in a stock role as the lead's best friend and it seems a bit of a waste seeing such a talented actor handed such a limp role.

Treadway and Martello-White fare a little bit better and are able to bounce off Algar well.

However it is Young who delivers the other eye catching performance, as the miniseries gradually reveals Stagg not to the be the sinister suspect he is initially portrayed as but actually someone who is very naive and extremely vulnerable.

A lot of play has been made by the producers of 'Deceit' about how refreshing it is to see a police drama that subtly captures sexism in the police force.

This is true. 

It is refreshing but the other big question the drama raises is why the investigators were so unquestioning about the fixation with Stagg and the methods being deployed to catch him.

That is never satisfactorily addressed.

The interrogation of Stagg never quite reaches the levels of intensity you might expect from a miscarriage of justice drama which is surprising, while the focus on the subsequent collapse of the court case feels rushed.

It's as if McCormick and di Girolamo's hearts are not really in that aspect of the drama.

They'd rather concentrate on delivering a stylishly creepy serial killer thriller.

Ultimately 'Deceit' belongs to Algar who confirms why she is one of the most compelling actors working on the big and small screen right now.

It's just a pity that 'Deceit' doesn't quite feel the sum of all its parts.

di Girolamo's fictional imagining of a true story is undermined by some questionable narrative choices.

And while McCormick delivers a stylish package, it seems he is more interested in the serial killer elements than the other horror of a woefully misguided and bullheaded police investigation.

For all its flaws, 'Deceit' is watchable and that is undoubtedly down to Algar and Young.

However it doesn't quite do its disturbing true story justice and that really is its real crime.

('Deceit' was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK from August 13-September 3, 2021)

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