THE STATE WITHIN is a six episode series from BBC that has class, excellent writing, top notch acting and enough twists and turns of story line to keep the viewer on the edge of the seat for the six hours it plays. Written by Michael Offer and Daniel Perceval (who also directs 3 of the episodes while Lizzie Mickery directs 3 others) the script is tight, the pacing deliberately fast, and the insertion of new characters into almost every episode serves not as distracting but as additive suspense. Mark Brydon (Jason Isaacs in one of his finest roles) is the British Ambassador to the United States. The series opens with the explosion of an airplane over Dulles International Airport in Washington DC and Brydon must respond to what appears to be a terrorist plot. But who is the terrorist and who is the country behind the plot? Brydon is supported by his undersecretary Nicholas Brocklehurst (Ben Daniels, also wholly convincing in a tough role) and they must face the US government in the person of Secretary of Defense Lynne Warner (Sharon Gless, proving that she is a fine dramatic actress) and her undersecretary Christopher Styles (the always superb Noam Jenkins). There are clues that unravel slowly, fingers that point to a small Middle Eastern country, currently beset by political problems, not the least of which involve American corporate gains. Informers and witness are knocked off right and left and there are intelligence issues in both the British and the US camps that play on the concepts that Warner is financially involved in the plot and Brydon is compromised by a relationship that is related to the little country's dilemma. It is a rush to the finish to resolve all the subterfuge and it is played out very well by a large cast of excellent actors. One comment should be made about this BBC production: as opposed to films made in this country: there is a frank and well acted same sex encounter between Brocklehurst and Styles in the first episode that sets the pace for the tenor of the story. No items of personal business are left unnoticed in this manipulation of information and the extremes that can be taken. While it is a suspense thriller, there is a lot of space for very real interpersonal relationships to unfold. Highly recommended entertainment, with special kudos to BBC for having the courage to explore topics so stringently avoided by American films. Grady Harp

This is one of the best TV conspiracy series ever made. For six episodes it is edge-of-your seat, and the performances are staggering. Ben Daniels does a spectacular job of dominating the entire series with his enigmatic and shifting intensity as the head of security for the British Embassy in Washington. We don't know for several episodes whose side he is really on, so complex is the web of political intrigue, and so many are the bluffs and double-bluffs of the story line. Another massive presence on the screen is the overwhelmingly powerful Sharon Gless, who plays the American Secretary of Defence. Rarely has an actor or actress in a TV series so completely portrayed a ruthless political operator so sure of power and not afraid to use it every minute of every day. When she looks at people, they generally curl up like fried strips of bacon, just in sheer terror. The series is a very thinly veiled attack on former Vice President Dick Cheney and the company Halliburton, of which he had previously been CEO. In the series, he becomes the woman played by Sharon Gless, and Halliburton becomes a sinister company named Armitage, of which she had been CEO. A disclaimer at the beginning of the series saying that no real company is portrayed is not so much an act of protection against law suits as an 'up yours' act of defiance, since any discerning person can see at once what the series is about. Instead of provoking the invasion of Iraq and the overthrowing of Saddam, the series is about the provoking of an invasion against the Central Asian country of Tyrgyzstan, whose oppressive dictator also rants on television all the time. Once again, we have the 'weapons of mass destruction' which don't exist, and all that goes with it. As a study of the corruption of power and the ruthless pursuit of international power politics by scheming defence companies and what Eisenhower called 'the military industrial complex', TV series don't get any more gripping or convincing than this. The series opens with a fantastic scene where a jet plane explodes in the air because of a bomb, and the wreckage showers down on a motorway. The series's hero, the British Ambassador to Washington, played convincingly and with every nuance entirely perfect by Jason Isaacs, is in a car directly below at the time and tries to save a woman from a burning car, but it explodes and she is killed in front of his eyes. And that is only the beginning of the first episode. The excitement mounts from there. The series is produced by the glamorous Grainne Marmion (pronounced 'grahn-yah', and she's unmistakably female), who has spared no effort, and the direction shared by Michael Offer and Daniel Percival (he also co-scripted with Lizzie Mickery) is terrific; the scripts are brilliant. Genevieve O'Reilly, always a favourite waif (who came into her own the next year as the star of the series 'The Time of Your Life'), does an excellent supporting job with her sensitive face and trembling voice, which probes possibilities like a hand reaching for a glass of water by the bed in the dark. Really, they are all so good, the menace and the anxiety and the danger are so palpable, that there is no room for any hairs to rise on the back of your neck, because the series has gripped you so tightly by the throat.

With so much over-hyped mediocrity about we often here claims that programmes get better with every episode - but in this case it really is true! Absolutely riveting stuff this. Tightly scripted, lots of characters with ambiguous motives, very little is cut and dried, but with still enough "boo hiss" baddies to satisfy. It's not very often we get to see a political thriller where anything could happen, to any of the leading characters, at any time and this helps to build on, and at least maintain, the tension and sense of threat throughout.Only into the third episode, but this is already a classic. I really hope it doesn't peter out or cop out towards its conclusion. But I have a funny feeling it won't disappoint. The only reason this didn't get a 10 from me is because I've not seen it all yet.

I watched the first episode last night and it is certainly gripping. There seem to be a lot of story lines weaving around the central story. There are high production values and with the mixture of UK and US stars I expect this will gain and audience on both sides of the pond. There is International terrorism a la 9/11, diplomacy, internment, gay spies, CIA, MI6. I am not going to précis the story as it is as yet unfolding. Sharon Gless (Secretary of Defense Lynne Warner), was interviewed on Radio 4 this morning and according to her you will not get the full story until the final episode. She likened it to "The Sixth Sense". Stand by for more gripping episodes.