Des review, Culture Whisper
Event television is ITV’s forte, especially if there’s murder. Think of A Confession and White House Farm, both airing within the last 12 months. Des, which follows the arrest and eventual conviction of 80s serial killer Dennis Nilsen, is different in ways good and bad. Unlike A Confession, Des turns down the realism: producing the sort of dark-roomed, heavily scored drama that makes television television.
But at the same time, the absorbing honesty in the dialogue and performances – especially from David Tennant, who plays Nilsen – produces a scary banality, an ordinary horror that could be staring at you every day. Murder with a blank face.
