TV Review - Freefall, BBC2
Where Did All The Money Go?
In the 80s the mantra was “Greed is good”, and mere mortals chuckled with glee when the Wall Street whizkids lost their designer shirts. Fast forward to 2008, and it appears these financial institutions have learned nothing; banks are toppling like dominos thanks to the 21st-century Gordon Gekkos.who were convinced the money would never run out.
Freefall begins in 2007, before the phrase “credit crunch” became a daily newspaper headline. Banker Gus (Aiden Gillen) perches loftily in his City office, celebrating the closure of yet another deal with a quick spot of self-gratification or an equally quick coupling with colleague Anna (Rosamund Pike). His job is his life, which is most probably why his wife left him, and he can barely squeeze in his daughter for an executive lunch of oysters and chips.
Slightly farther down the totem pole is Dave (Dominic Cooper), part of a team of mortgage salesmen who possesses neither a conscience or a shred of decency. Part Cockney geezer, part panto villain, Dave positively delights in selling poor saps mortgages they cannot possibly afford, without bothering to tell them the fixed rate they pay for the first year will skyrocket thereafter. He also goes through women like water, drives a flash Audi, and has a veritable mansion in which to lay his oily little head.
Is It A Crime To Want A Better Life?
And at the bottom, naturally, is the poor Ordinary Joe, in this case Jim (Joseph Mawle), a security guard who’s just about getting by in a rented council house with wife Mandy (Anna Maxwell Martin) and two kids. Before you can say “look out, he’s behind you”, Jim has the misfortune to run into Dave, who happens to be an old school friend. Alas Jim is all too easily bamboozled by the mile-a-minute “come on, you know you deserve something better, mate” sales pitch.
And sure enough, one year on the bubble bursts – Gus loses his job, Jim loses the house and Dave is reduced to a glorified double glazing salesman, hawking eco-friendly products to gullible housewives. And just in case viewers might possibly have missed the point of the love of money being the root of all evil, Gus also throws himself off a bridge as he is nothing without his job.
Who Says Life Is Fair?
However Freefall is no simple morality tale. In a just world, Dave would be the one in the grubby council flat, while Jim somehow manages to buck the system and keep his dreams. But it appears Dave is a natural-born salesman, and has simply swapped mortgages for solar panels. And he’s still got a nice car, a decent flat, and a lady to share it with.
It’s not hard to guess where the sympathies of writer/director Dominic Savage lie, but to his credit Jim is not some sainted serf who was merely corrupted by the devil incarnate. As wife Mandy points out “Somehow your life wasn’t complete until you had the three-piece suite and nice new house, somehow it would fix things. But it doesn’t, Jim, ‘cause it’s just things”.
Despite its clichés, Freefall is exactly what the BBC should be doing – no formulaic murder mysteries, tired reality shows or lame comedies. Just quality drama with a first-rate cast that actually has something to say.
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