Thoughts on TV series ‘Utopia’. I’m watching Season 2. Cult status. Critical acclaim. Brilliantly perverse. Mould breaking plot. Seasons 3 and 4 pulled by Channel 4. Why? One suspects the best conspiracy thriller in a decade has fallen foul of conspiracy itself. Weaving fiction with allegations of CIA MI6 dirty deeds involving real time events (assassination of Airey Neave and other politicians across Europe), the Bilderberg group, 3 Mile Island… Utopia plays with history as science fiction ought. Given that many (Enoch Powell et al) believed MI6 were killing their own for dark political reasons, this bleak comedy pulls no punches. The central moral dilemma – if we kill 95% of the world’s population now with a virus, we’ll actually save the future for humanity – is reasonable and appallingly grotesque in equal parts. Methinks Channel 4 felt the full weight of the Tory establishment and ran screaming to their Deal No Deal bland safety net.
HBO are remaking 1 and 2 and adding 3 and 4. Good for them. Hope the actors are British if only for the regional accents…