Not quite Valentine’s Day material: John Simm in BBC’s Collateral and ITV’s Trauma
While many people are getting up to celebrate Valentine’s Day, or it’s partner Galentine’s Day for friends, something quite different premiered on BBC and ITV last night.
While the two shows had something spectacularly different to offer the audience, both shows had John Simm in the cast. Also, the BBC2 show Collateral seems to be having a huge Doctor Who reunion.
BBC2: Collateral:
Synopsis: (re: Radio Times)
"“When a man is murdered while working as a pizza delivery driver in London, DI Kip Glaspie (Carey Mulligan) arrives on the scene – but what she finds opens up more questions than it answers.This four-part drama by screenwriter Sir David Hare, produced by BBC2 and Netflix, is directed by SJ Clarkson and goes beyond your usual TV thriller to become a state-of-the-nation drama encompassing politicians, vicars, and Syrian asylum seekers.”"
John Simm starred David Mars, and the show included Billie Piper, and Carey Mulligan. The story travels around a man who is killed while delivering a pizza, and DI Kip Glaspie (Carey Mulligan) takes the case. Billie Piper is cast as Karen Mars, whose biggest defining moment last night was throwing the pizza delivered on the floor for no real reason that we can understand.
https://twitter.com/billiepiper/status/963205588778934272
John Simm plays a Labour MP whose job has taken over his relationship and based on this picture we can see, he’s not a happy man. (Don’t worry, he’s not the man who gets shot)
Finally, Nicola Walker plays Jane Oliver, who is a gay female vicar. That’s more representation in one television moment than the United States can put in anything right now. As far as we know, she’s the only woman who hasn’t been in Doctor Who in the main cast.
According to reviews and Twitter, this show was the better one of the two.
ITV’s Trauma
ITV
Synopsis for the show: (re: Radio Times)
"The three-part psychological thriller centers on the lives of two fathers, Dan and Jon, whose lives collide when Dan’s 15 year-old son Alex is stabbed and tragically dies in the trauma department attended by high-achieving consultant Allerton."
Cast:
Adrian Lester stars as Jon Allerton who is a trauma surgeon (getting where the name is coming from). He’s a highly respected surgeon (so think Patrick Dempsey, but with less hair), so he’s achieving much for his family.
On the other side, John Simm plays Dan Bowker, whose family are in a bit of the opposite position. A bit stretched for cash, always living paycheck to paycheck.
Rowena King plays Jon Allerton’s wife and is a psychiatrist in North London.