As the first episode of Litvinenko begins, Alexander Litvinenko (David Tennant) returns home and tells his family that they’ve received a letter from the UK government after six years of waiting. They are now a British family. On November 1, 2006, Alexander gets sick and begins calling for Marina (Margarita Levieva) from the bathroom. She is concerned when she notices that he has been throwing up blood. 16 days later, two detectives visit Alexander at the hospital to see what he has to say. Jim Dawson (Barry Sloane) and his partner discuss whether the guy has lost his marbles. They tell the receptionist they’re there to see Edwin Carter who thinks he has been poisoned. Marina tells them that they’re worried no one is taking this seriously. She explains that her husband wants the whole world to know what has happened. Marina knows the doctors don’t believe him, but they do not understand.

Brent Hyatt (Neil Maskell) goes inside and introduces himself and Jim to Mr. Carter or Alexander. He tells the detectives that he would like to report his murder. Alexander explains how he’ll get worse over the next few days before saying he knows how this happened. As the detectives leave, they begin changing their minds about Alexander being a nut. Brent says they’ll interview him and hear him out. The doctor tells them they need to leave. She reveals that they’ve tested the patient for all types of toxins including thallium which he believes he was poisoned with. The detectives don’t want to wait to interview Mr. Carter since he might not be there in the morning. Before the interview begins, Edwin admits his name is not Edwin Carter since he just uses that name for protection. He confirms his name is Alexander Litvinenko and he is a former FSB officer. In Russia, he is the deputy head of Section 7 which is a secret department with the job being to kill.

When asked how he was supposed to kill, Alexander says the enemies of the Russian state. He suspects he is there today because he refused to kill someone. Once they arrived in London, Alexander wrote a book about corruption in Russia and they got very angry at him. He became a target because he told the truth and became a troublemaker. After the detectives ask who made the order to kill him, Alexander says the man was head of FSB and his name is Vladimir Putin. In the morning, DS Clive Timmons (Mark Bonnar) heads into work. Brent finds that Alexander’s story is already in the newspapers. Marina tells them they have a Russian friend in London named Alex Goldfarb (Mark Ivanir) who arranged for a photographer to come to the hospital. He thinks they need publicity for Alexander. She asks if he thinks it is a mistake. Brent isn’t sure professionally, but he thinks it is a good way to let the world know.

Brent tells Alexander that they’d like to create a list of people he has come in contact with in London. Alex knows they met with other Russian enemies of the state when they came to London. He mentions Alex Goldfarb, Boris Berezovsky, and a woman who visited from Chechnya named Anna Politkovskaya. He believes Anna is also a target because she wrote many articles that are critical of Putin. When she went home in October, she was murdered. He told the media that his friend was murdered by Putin because no one else would. He received a phone call from an Italian intelligence expert with a connection to Russia. He was coming to London and wanted to have lunch with Alexander. The detectives are given the name Mario Scaramella. He agreed to meet him on the first of November which is the same day he was poisoned. Brent is introduced to Alex Goldfarb and Professor John Henry (Robert Meadmore) who is one of the world’s top toxicologists.

They want permission to examine Alexander, but Brent admits it isn’t his permission to give. He asks them to keep him posted if they do get to examine him. Clive talks to DAC Peter Clarke (Daniel Ryan) about Alexander and the fact he has had two homicide detectives with him for the past 24 hours. Peter explains they’re going to make it a joint inquiry with counter-terrorism taking the lead. Clive is happy with the case since you sometimes wait your entire career for something like this to come around. Alexander explains that he met with Scaramella at Piccadilly Cirus before going to a sushi place called Itsu. Scaramella didn’t eat and only drank with the lid. Alexander describes him as very anxious. Scaramella had a white package that he wanted to show him. He made Alexander take the package and put it in his bag. Alexander says it is possible that Scaramella was the person sent to poison him.

When the doctor interrupts to give Alexander medication, he tells Brent that he asked Marina to bring him a copy of his book. Outside, Brent sits with John Henry who believes Alexander was poisoned with something other than thallium. They scanned him with a Geiger counter which would’ve picked up thallium and other heavy metals. It would miss alpha emitters. John explains that Alexander was poisoned with a radioactive substance. They’ll need to get a sample of Alexander’s urine to the atomic weapons establishment in Aldermaston. The detectives go to the sushi shop to look around. While Alexander’s urine is transported to the testing site, Brent and Jim meet with Clive and the others for briefing. He gives Brent and Jim permission to continue interviewing Alexander.

When they interview him this time, an interpreter named Nina Tupper (Bea Svistunenko) attends. Alexander is asked to recount the events of November 1. He says he left Itsu and make a phone call to arrange his next meeting. Alexander also met with an old colleague from the KGB who was in London on a family holiday. He is staying at the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square. He pushed the meeting forward because they were going to a football match between Arsenal and CSKA Moscow. The detectives ask if he is talking about Mr. Lugovoy and his family, but Alex says it was Mr. Lugovoy and an associate. He believes the second guy’s name was Dmitry Kovtun. Alex went to the motel where Lugovoy was waiting in the foyer. He told Alexander to go to the bar. When the waiter came to offer him a drink, Lugovoy said no because they’re only here for a short while.

Lugovoy told him there was no need to order a drink since there was plenty of tea left in the pot. Alexander drank three mouthfuls of tea. Kovtun came from his room to say hello and talk about a big business scheme. They told him he could make money in the UK and say off the police if they ask questions. Alexander said police here are good and don’t take bribes so you can trust them with your life. Brent asks what else he has on Lugovoy. Alexander has many papers in his house that he arranged carefully. They will find a file on Lugovoy in the bottom drawer of his desk. Once they find the paperwork, they learn that Lugovoy is a former platoon commander in the KGB. When Brent returns home, his partner is watching a news report about Alexander. She calls it exciting although Brent doesn’t agree. The next day,  James Cairns calls Clive to tell him that Alexander’s urine sample contains traces of Polonium 210.

James says it is rare and most certainly produced in Russia. In James’s opinion, there is no conceivable way that Alexander can survive because polonium is often considered the most dangerous substance known to men. When Brent approaches Marina, she says Sasha always makes life easy for her. She believes what he says about the poison, but she still hopes that he’ll survive. Brent invites her to come into the room for the next interviews. Alexander tells them how he went home listening to music and saw his wife and son through the window. Once he came inside, he had what Marina made for dinner. Later, he had a pain in his stomach and blood in his mouth. Although he doesn’t know the English language well yet, Alexander is proud to say he is a British citizen. Brent tells him he has a wife who he loves.

They don’t have children yet but they hope to. Alexander knows there will be pressure from the top so he asks Brent to do his best to bring this case to justice. Brent gives him his word. After that, the detectives meet with Peter and Clive. They learn that Nick from the Health Protection Agency will be setting up a testing site at the yard since everyone who has come in contact with the victim will need assessing. Brent is told that the object used to transport the poison could also contain traces of polonium. He rushes back to his house where he finds his wife reading Alexander’s book. He immediately takes it for testing. Brent is relieved to learn that the book is negative for polonium. Then, he learns that Alexander has had a cardiac. Peter gives a briefing talking about which sites they need to secure. He informs everyone that Mr. Litvinenko died at 21:21 this evening. Brent goes to Marina so he can show her something.

He takes her outside to show her how seriously the authorities are taking her husband’s poisoning. Alexander Goldfarb approaches the journalists so he can read them something Sasha wanted them to hear. He thanks everyone and his wife. Then, he tells the poisoner that they may succeed in silencing him, but the howl of protests will reverberate in Mr. Putin’s ears for the rest of his life.

 

Litvinenko Review

By this point, most people in the western world have heard about the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko and the findings from the investigation so it is hard to imagine the four-part series will bring anything new to the table. Nevertheless, viewers may find that it is a good time to relive the drama. The opening episode set the scene with the poisoning and subsequent death of Alexander Litvinenko.

Before his death, Alexander (David Tennant) spoke with homicide detectives and told them about his poisoning and poisoners. The episode had the basics down right with the soundtrack, lighting, and camerawork being spot on, but it would’ve been better to create a deeper backstory for Alexander Litvinenko.

Unless viewers can connect to Alexander, it’ll be difficult to care about his poisoning or the endeavor of detectives to bring him justice. The performances are good enough thanks to the likes of Mark Bonnar, Neil Maskell, Daniel Ryan, and others. David Tennant does well with the role although an actual Russian actor could’ve delivered an authentic accent and the actor’s bald head is a bit Coneheadish at times.

The first episode was decent and the story could be promising as it continues developing, but the lack of backstory for Alexander is concerning. The episode scores a 6 out of 10. Recaps of Litvinenko can be found on Reel Mockery here. If you’ve benefited from our recaps, consider supporting our work and our right to be an independent, unfiltered voice. Find out how to do so here.