Beware programmes which people proclaim is 'The new.....' It's a lazy, sloppy way of explaining to someone what a programme is going to be like, and often leads to disappointment.
It's also, I suspect, marginally offensive for the programme makers, who, I'd assume, don't actually set out to make 'the new' anything.
But when TV pundits on various telly forums began to describe The Whistleblowers (ITV 1, 9pm) as 'the New Spooks' it was pretty much set in stone what I'd be checking out tonight.
I'm not sure whether a Spooks-style programme can work on commercial telly - surely the beauty of Spooks was the intricate detail and rapid pace which surely will be spoilt if split up by up to 12 minutes of adverts over an hour.
But from the synopsis from ITV, I can see where the comparison-mongers are coming from. It deals with some of the darker sides of Government and security service activity, and I get the impression may touch a few raw nerves in the process, not to mention get some paranoia going (Interesting fact: After Spooks began, the Press Lobby in Westminster became certain there was an MI5 plant in their number - it's still a popular guessing game).
It works like this: Lawyers Ben Graham and Alisha Cole are a happy couple whose world is rocked when they accidentally glimpse a moment of injustice.
Drawn into an underbelly of corruption and conspiracy, they try to report what they have seen but find themselves enemies of the state.
Determined to put things right, Ben and Alisha set up an agency to support whistleblowers: people who refuse to turn a blind eye to corruption and will risk everything to expose the truth.
And naturally, not everyone wants the truth. So maybe it like Spooks, but Spooks lite - Spooks without ANY government authorisation.
Still, it's good to see something like this on ITV 1. Shame it bloody clashes with Mock the Week though.
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