True Love

18th June 2012

The heavily promoted, star-studded improvised drama series True Love arrived on BBC One last night, prompting many questions. Would the improvisation prove to be a brave dramatic choice or merely a gimmick? Would the high profile cast be able to cope with the challenge of writing their own lines? And most importantly, would there be enough lingering close-ups of David Tennant’s face?

The answer to the final question, mercifully, was yes. The opening episode of the series revolved around David Tennant’s character Nick struggling to cope with the arrival of an old flame, tempting him to abandon his wife and family (I should probably warn you right now that I’m something of a Tennant fan – although I’m pretty confident it won’t be noticeable). The majestic Tennant starred opposite Vicky McClure and Joanne Froggatt, with Lacey Turner briefly popping up to provide a neat overlap into the next episode. The high calibre cast certainly can’t be faulted in True Love, and they coped well with the challenge of working without a script.

Director Dominic Savage’s choice to let the actors improvise their lines is obviously the main talking point of the drama. For the majority of the episode it really seemed to work, creating a fascinating realism that is rarely captured by a writer’s pen, and was particularly well suited for creating a realistic portrait of Nick’s family life. However sometimes I felt myself wishing for a writer to hone the more dramatic moments, and the occasional scene came to an unnatural end, as though the actors (though never the glorious Tennant, of course) hadn’t been sure when the scene should stop.

But what let this otherwise strong drama down was the fact that the episode was quite simply too short for what it attempted. At half an hour in length, the episode gave us very little time to engage with the characters (and even less time if you read the TV guide wrong and tuned in 5 minutes late – not that I did this of course). It felt like we were breezing through the plot, and as such it all felt a bit fleeting. The glimpses we got of the marvellous Tennant’s angst over the choice between his wife and ex-lover were moving, but the episode didn’t linger long enough to make it feel like there was ever a struggle. After seemingly deciding to ditch his wife, Tennant barely had time to pose for a dramatic silhouette on the sea front before changing his mind and sending Vicky McClure packing.  The ending of the episode was similarly disappointingly abrupt, with no time for the ramifications of Nick’s actions to be explored.

Overall the brief glimpse we got of the drama of True Love and the impact of improvisation was tantalising, but over all too quickly, leaving the whole thing feeling a bit flimsy. Perhaps as the drama continues exploring other characters over the course of the week it will form into something more substantial, but the first episode felt like it promised so much but never got the chance to stretch its legs, creating a rather sedate experimental drama.

Oh, and David Tennant was superb.