Life is tough for troubled muggle, Vince McKee (David Morrissey). No bed of roses at home and finding it tough making a living as a cabbie in Manchester's rain-drenched streets. His fares either puke on his seats then don't pay or they have no cash and steal his day's earnings. This all changes when Mickey (Ian Hart) - just out after a six year stretch inside - suggests Vince does some driving for his gangster boss, Horse (Colm Meaney). Things start to go belly up soon after as he realizes there's no way back from a life in crime.With so many tough acts to follow - Sherlock, The Fall, Broadchurch, Utopia, etc - The Driver really needs deliver something unexpected to help it stand out; this it roundly fails to do. It manages to be adequate in all domains: The dialogue, the plot, the direction, the camera-work, the performances, the action are all good though there's nothing that jumps off the screen. That said, there are two stand-out performances: Sacha Parkinson as Vince's daughter and Harish Patel as Vince's minicab boss.David Morrissey's character grows ever more annoying as he dithers between his lives at home and in crime. In a way, he's morally gray: He's unable to invest himself in normal family life and clearly not cut out to be a criminal. His big problem is he's just not that interesting, nor are his reactions to criminality very compelling. His best moment comes when he tries to recontact his estranged son who is living in a commune. We get a brief glimpse of fire amongst barely glowing embers.With a series called The Driver it's hard not to look for references to Nicolas Winding Refn's superb "Drive", but there are none. Although there is nothing much to remember about The Driver, the action sequences are well-handled and there are some nifty camera moves in Vince's car. The big question that this miniseries leaves you with is why oh why would a competent gangster trust the job of getaway driver to a civilian cab driver who's scared witless?

In recent years I have become more up for trying new dramas, I always give the first episode a chance, and if I like it I'm very likely to continue the majority if not the entire series, and that was the case with this one from the BBC. Basically in Manchester Vince McKee (David Morrissey) is having financial troubles, and working as a taxi driver does not make him enough money, so he and "friend" Colin Vine (Harry Potter's Ian Hart) talk to a man who calls himself The Horse (Colm Meaney) about working for him. The Horse offers Vince a job working as his driver, he gives him a new car and a phone, he tells him that whenever he calls he is needed as the driver to transport whatever it is he is told, person or object, with no questions asked, and he will be paid thousands for doing so. At first Vince finds this job rewarding, he just gets on with the driving and makes the most of the money he is making, including reconnecting with his estranged wife Rosalind (Severance's Claudie Blakley), but soon consequences come from it when he really acknowledges the crime side to what he is doing, and people get hurt as a result. The biggest problem Vince has is not keeping this secret from his family, but he cannot get out of it without risking the bigger consequences to himself and others, he is tempted at one point to tell the police, but things just get more complicated. Also starring Darren Morfitt as Mickey, Andrew Tiernan as Darren, Shaun Dingwall as Detective Ryder, Andrew Knott as Detective O'Connor, Sacha Parkinson as Katie McKee, Lewis Rainer as Tim McKee, Chris Coghill as Woodsy, Lee Ross as Kev Mitchell, Harish Patel as Amjad and Nathan McMullen as Joseph Paslowski. Morrissey is a good choice for the vulnerable but desperate leading character, Hart gets his moments as the other man doing the job with him, and Meaney is great as the gangster who doesn't let him out, you could argue that the makers must have got some of their ideas from the Jason Statham - Transporter films, but it was interesting to watch, it had its fair share of small thrills, and it is written well, overall it is a watchable crime drama. Very good!

I rate David Morrisey as one of the best actors over the last 20 years. He has been in some of the best TV drama series and one offs to put this show 'The Driver' not one of his best.It started out looking good, but got worse as it went on. The storyline turned out a bit too far fetched. Vince, the taxi driver gets involved with an old criminal buddy who has just got out of prison. He then gets invited to a game of cards in the house of the 'Horse' an arch criminal who seems to run Manchester's underworld. Without any knowledge of Vince's capability to join the ranks of wheel-man to gang of heavies, he is on the firm.Vince has problems at home, his son has run off with his girlfriend and joined a religious sect...yawn. He drives the Horse a few times and then is invited to be getaway driver on a heist. In between Vince's buddy has failed to dispatch a drug dealer and Vince pulls the half alive bloke out of a twenty foot deep drain with a tow rope, puts him in the back of his cab and drops him off at the hospital. Cops get involved and Vince strikes a deal to nail the horse.Yep, it all ends up with gang getting their collars felt, Vince's son coming home to mum and dad and the credits appear. Sorry but can't say I enjoyed it. Too silly and the criminals were so useless they would have been locked up years ago.

The driver starts with a thrilling car chase as Vince McKee (David Morrissey) evades the police in the streets of Manchester. You almost feel this could be akin to the film Drive.Vince life takes an unexpected turn as an old friend Colin (Ian Hart) released from prison gets him to accept an offer to drive for a criminal gang.Vince a taxi driver, sick with the life as a cabbie finds that he is an ordinary man who is in over his head by being a driver for the criminals. His life has taken a turn for the worse since his son joined some kind of cult and he and his wife have drifted apart.Gang leader, The Horse (Colm Meaney) is not a man who stands for nonsense, when a job which leads to a man being shoved in a hole and left for dead goes awry, Vince realises he wants his old life back but the police are also watching him.After a bright opening episode, you realise from the second episode that this three parter has a flimsy plot. Vince is not cut out to be a bad boy, his mistakes lands his friend Colin in a spot of bother and in the final episode the Police have got him and its a case of whether Vince will give the gang up.A disappointment when you realise that this could had been a good 90 minutes film. Meaney, Hart and Morrissey act their parts well, some of the car chase scenes are exciting, there is a lot of grittiness and the scenes where he confronts his son in the cult's home will make your heart cry for Vince but it needed a more solid script.