Where is the limit to catch a murderer?

In July 1992, the death in London of the young Rachel Nickell after receiving 49 stab wounds by an unknown person, in the street, in front of her two-year-old son, revolted British society. Faced with popular pressure and the fear that it was neither the first nor the last crime of the murderer, the metropolitan police took another step: they decided to design a covert operation for one of their agents to conquer the main suspect and make him confess. This true story is the core of

, a four-part British miniseries released in the summer on Channel 4 and which, within this successful policy of platforms to bring a selection of the huge British production, can now be seen on HBO Max.

Deceit

is a classic policeman, a procedural that cannot be overcome by a brutal story at times, a fiction anchored in reality and that creates that complete vision that sometimes only a story can offer.

An extraordinary Niamh Algar plays the young policewoman used as bait, plunged into a hell from which it will not be easy to get out, obsessed with the alleged murderer, captivated by the seduction process, destroyed by deception.

It is not a friendly content, there is high voltage here, agent Lizzie James is going to the limit and with her the series.

Excellent also the interpretation of Eddie Marsan as the psychologist who helps the police.

The close-ups of his imperturbable face, overexposed, almost excessive, are an aesthetic mark of the series.

Eddie Marsan in a scene from 'Deceit'.

In the police station, the smoke, the hormones of an ultra-masculinized environment, are palpable. There, the detective Keith Pedder, obsessed with the case, pushes the investigation towards his main suspect, he wants to believe at all times that he has the culprit. The rhythm of the narration does not leave a minute free, each chapter squeezes the plot, condenses the drama. How many would have made several seasons with which the director and screenwriter Emilia di Girolamo has built a closed narrative of less than four hours.

The conflict, what would the police drama be without conflict, arises as soon as questions appear like what if we are pushing too hard? What if it is not?

In the chapter that closes everything, anger, doubts, an outcome that drags those involved into the mud converge.

As in other fictions of the style, the judgment is only a tool, it happens quickly.

Its consequences, no, and that is where this series triumphs again.

As with any real case, you can gut your content in a minute on Google, but better accompany Agent James on her descent into hell to neutralize the evil.

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