"This is not some cheap murder. This is an honorable thing to do!"
Plenty of reviews I've read for The State Within, BBC and BBC America's conspiracy thriller about terrorism, war, corporations and diplomacy, have described it as a cross between 24, Spooks and The West Wing. All of those descriptions are pretty well justified. Since Spooks is the only one of the three that I watch regularly, I can attest that The State Within's fast-paced story-telling, editing, and subject matter is very similar to Spooks.
I would also like to add another much loved show for comparison, though, and it's something that brings out an aspect of The State Within which I found particularly compelling and original, almost novelistic. And that is the way that almost every action and turn of events - from the bombing of a civilian plane (not a spoiler, it happens in the first fifteen minutes), to the British Ambassador's (Jason Isaacs) reaction to a diplomatic crisis - is grounded in character, which is gradually revealed to
the audience. It is that aspect that reminded me of HBO's Rome, another show of labyrinthine plot lines and Machiavellian manipulation that meet in a violent, wrenching way; in which one woman's adulterous affair, or one common soldier's volcanic temper, ended up being the lynch pin of the plot that brought down the great Julius Caesar. There's nothing so ironical in the extreme as that in The State Within, but you get my drift, I hope. It's that kind of storytelling, steeped in character details, which I love.
There are more reasons to watch The State Within, if you can find a way to do so (so far it has only aired in the UK). It politics are as cynical as that of any other show, barring The Wire. Most of the lead actors are tremendous, and the tension and mystery of the narrative completely gripping from start to finish. And the characters, God, the characters. Come across in the full six episodes as multi-dimensional and ultimately surprising as you could not have expected, or even hoped for, in a show that deals with such large topics.
If you don't mind spoilers, all my screencaps for The State Within can be downloaded from here. There are also my episode picspams at state_within: one-two, three-four, five, six.
~
Speaking of Rome, the official site has been updated with a second season preview and character spots, which you can access from the Video page.