A Brilliant Conflict

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

"Wired" is a wonderful TV miniseries from England, starring Jodie Whittaker and Toby Stevens.Whittaker plays a not totally honest bank worker, Louise Evans, whose best friend involves her in a large-scale fraud operation. She is to set up a false bank account for a tycoon about to sell his business; the thieves, some of who are already at the bank, will funnel the sale money into this fake account and transfer it out of the country.Louise originally refuses to get involved, but the man who approaches her (Laurence Fox) has blackmail on her -- she and someone else once stole 3000 pounds, plus she has a daughter, Erica, that the thieves can use as a way to threaten her. Louise unknowingly becomes involved with a police detective (Toby Stephens) who knows what she's doing and wants her to cooperate with the police.Suspenseful and nerve-wracking, this is a very exciting drama with a few great twists along the way. It's not the warmest production you'll ever see -- Louise isn't a particularly likable character, though she can sure think on her feet; Laurence Fox of "Inspector Lewis" fame plays an awful human being -- well, nobody is very nice, except perhaps Stephens, but words like tough and no-nonsense fit him better."Wired" held my interest throughout because one really doesn't know who is working with whom, or what's going to happen. It holds one's attention right until the very end.

As an avid fan of things British, I feel more than slightly disappointed with this bit of fluff. Obviously, it was supposed to be a serious, tout thriller set in the financial world of high banking, where different kind of gangsters perform their crimes with very little or no punishment. Unfortunately, it was deeply flawed in it's badly written one-dimensional characters. There are bunch of cartoonish villains, some wooden policemen and incredibly irritating leading female character, that one just couldn't care less about. It is hard to feel excitement and compassion for cardboard figures so far removed from anything remotely connected with real life. And I couldn't and I didn't. It was just passable two hours and 15 minutes and nothing else.

"Wired" is a taut, well-written, well-acted thriller guided by a strong director. The star and lead actress, Jodie Whitaker, has delivered a particularly powerful, consistent and believable performance. She is a very attractive and engaging talent who very definitely deserves richer and more frequent opportunities to shine. Ms. Whitaker not only held her own with the likes of her co-stars, Laurence Fox and Toby Stephens, but even occasionally showed glimmers of upstaging them. The previous commenter from the UK (???23) could not possibly have been more wrong or misleading in the misguided bad notice they posted here in January of 2009! So astoundingly far from the truth was that unwarranted rant, that it appears sufficiently suspect to make one wonder as to whether the true source and motivation might be that of a rival network or production company! "Wired" is a not quite a 5-star masterpiece and may not have been worthy of BAFTA's, but it is an excellent thriller, time well-spent and a production of which ITV should feel proud.

I saw the trailer and thought it looked good, a bank fraud is a great subject given the times. Laurence Fox and Toby Stephens are both from acting dynasties but I can't believe they read the script of this three hour long turkey. It went from bad to worse so consistently that I gave up in despair before the end of the second episode. It was just absolute rubbish, how a TV company can finance something so awful says it all. ITV shares are at an all time low and so are some of the awful rubbish they are turning out as drama. The actress who played the leading role was possibly the worst I have seen in a long time, but the script was so far fetched I doubt Meryl Streep would have looked much better.