MONDAY 19 MARCH
Drama
Mobile
9:00pm - 10:30pm
ITV1 London
VIDEO Plus+: 8548
Subtitles, audio description, widescreen
Episode written by John Fay
1/3
State of Play has a lot to answer for. In its wake, conspiracy thrillers are back in fashion, which would be fine (the more the merrier), except that not everyone writes them like Paul Abbott. Take this ambitious series: tonight's first episode (of three) tells the story of Eddie (Neil Fitzmaurice), a mobile-phone engineer and father-oftwo with a brain tumour and only months to live. He believes it was his job that caused the tumour and gets understandably enraged at people who bark into phones on trains, buses or remote hillsides. Meanwhile his wife, played by Julie Graham, weeps a lot, also understandably. All of which would make perfect sense if this were a tear-jerking terminal-illness drama. But the rest of the characters are sharp-talking cops investigating murders, bombs and train sieges that may or may not be connected to Eddie. It's like a bizarre collision between Recovery and 24. That's not to say Mobile is poor - there's terrific dialogue, the performances are neat (including John Thomson as Eddie's therapist) and I'm eager to know how it all turns out. But you may want to park your disbelief at the door.
RT reviewer - David Butcher
Directed by: Stuart Orme
Donna Doig - Julie Graham
Eddie Doig - Neil Fitzmaurice
Hypnotherapist - John Thomson
DI Lorraine Conil - Sunetra Sarker
DI George Fleming - Shaun Dooley
Sir James Corson - Keith Allen
Eddie's dad - Antony Booth
Steven Doig - Adam McCoy
Keith Doig - Jack Rigby
DS John Goddard - Russell Boulter
Supt Hewwit - Michael J Jackson
DS Charlie Lathom - Phil Rowson
Dr Yesudian - Andonis Anthony
Bobby Dean - Frank Lauder
Robbo - Roy Brandon
Female lover - Anna Denise Whelan
Male lover - Nicky Bell
Bus woman - Amy Stratton
Train victim - Vickie Gates
Reader on train - Matthew Lewney
Supt Raisbeck - Michael Atkinson
Ticket collector - John Churnside
Train driver - Anthony Watson
Day tripper - Daniel Holt
Maurice Stoan - Jamie Draven
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