Summer of Rockets (2019 Stephen Poliakoff & scr)

Typical stuff - intrigue, children (SP's alter ego), slightly mannered conversation, very long shots, photos. There's much to enjoy in Poliakoff's latest 1950s set conspiracy thriller, but under close scrutiny there's perhaps too much going on - too many themes, red herrings, story lines, confessions, coincidences, unresolved plots - like the whole disappearing son thing - and the central idea - the planned military coup - is, unlike some of his other stuff (Glorious 39), not rooted in fact.

Did enjoy the allusions to modern technology and the fabulous moment where the dog understands Russian (though it's another red herring) - shouldn't have killed the dog - it would have been cool if he'd left with it. Some great performances, especially Lily Sacofsky and Toby Woolf as the kids, and a very thin-looking Timothy Spall.

With Toby Stephens, Keeley Hawes, Linus Roache, Gary Beadle, Lucy Cohu, Mark Bonnar, Clare Bloom (The Haunting, The King's Speech), Rose Ayling-Ellis, Peter Firth, Ronald Pickup, Robert Ashe, Richard Cordery.

Scored by Adrian Johnstone as usual.