Ashenden

As we all know, popularity does not always equal quality.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not some contrarian who looks down his nose on mainstream shows (most of the time anyway). There are plenty of popular shows that I have a deep fondness for. At the same time, there's no denying that TV as a whole, is filled with shows that does not deserve half the praise and adoration showered upon them. On the other side, there are plenty of shows that, in spite of being of extremely high quality, languishes in undeserved obscurity. The Bristish mini-series Ashenden is one such show.

Based on a collection of stories by W. Somerset Maugham (confession time: I haven't read any of Maugham's work), which in turn were based on the author's own experiences, Ashenden tells the story of John Ashenden, a playwright who is enlisted as an agent for British Intelligence during World War I. Each of the four episodes deals with Ashenden on one of his missions, whether its inducing a dancer into betraying her lover who is a German agent, or travelling to Russia during the 1917 revolution to convince that nation to remain in conflict with Germany. Each episode opens with an aging Ashenden, living in France, listening to the opening tunes of a pop song on the radio, before angrily pushing the radio off the table.

As a show, Ashenden is a prime example of quality over quantity. Despite there being only four episodes, each episode is a well-crafted gem, featuring interesting characters and gripping plots. 

Alex Jennings plays Ashenden and while the character does not perhaps enter into my pantheon of favorite TV protagonist (though he's a close runner-up), Jennings does a fine job making the character engaging and likable. Its also interesting to see Ashenden grow more and more disillusioned with the nature of his job and the ruthlessness of his superior officer Colonel "R" as the series progresses. Due to the limited number of episodes, the supporting cast is relatively small; aside from the titular character, the only other recurring characters are Ashenden's friend, the homosexual pacifist Andrew Lehman (Jason Isaacs), the aforementioned "R" (Ian Bannen) and the real-life head of MI6, Sir George Mansfield Cumming (Joss Ackland). That said, the one-off characters all very memorable as well, with Alan Benett and Alfred Molina being particularly good in their roles as a British traitor and a Mexican assassin respectively.

I learned about the existence of Ashenden quite by chance and I'm glad that I did. I was fortunate enough to find all the episodes on YouTube and you can find the first episode inserted into this post. I strongly recommend watching it, this a show that deserves to be more well-known and getting an official re-release and if my post can, in some small way contribute to that happening, I'd consider my job done.