David Tennant plays Dennis Neilsen, one of the most infamous serial killers in UK history. Here’s our Des Episode 1 ITV Review.
Nilsen (played by David Tennant) was a local civil servant who spent five years murdering boys and young men he met on the streets of Soho from 1978 to 1983.
He would meet and befriend these men before offering them food or lodgings for the evening back at his North London flat.
His victims were often homeless or living off grid, having slipped through the cracks of 1980s society and were therefore welcoming of this stranger’s apparent generosity.
When he was finally caught on 9 February 1983, Nilsen had murdered a total of fifteen men over a period of five years, making him Britain’s most prolific serial killer of the time.
David Tennant strikes a chilling figure who convincingly not only looks but sounds like Nilsen himself as each line is delivered with a cold unforgiving tone as he recalls the murders to the police with no guilt or remorse.
Tennant’s steely gaze re-accounting his grisly crimes is throughly gripping from start to finish.
Des does seem to fly through the narrative at a rapid pace, the series begins the second Nilsen is captured, no doubt trying to avoid glorifying the killings in any way shape or form.
The show angles from three perspectives. Peter Jay, the Detective behind the case (Daniel Mays), Brian Masters a biographer (Jason Watkins) and Nielsen himself (David Tennant).
The way in which Nilsen astonishingly admitted to all of his crimes to quickly and so easily and then the challenge for detectives as Nilsen couldn’t remember the names of anyone he had killed is truly haunting.
Whilst the show doesn’t take too much time to dwell into Des’s personality it just hovers upon the surface and races through the pages of the biography of which this show is based upon.
Everything feels rushed and lacking in substance.
With such a gripping performance from Tennant the interview sequences really should have been staggered, honest but staggered and slowly delivered. Instead it was yeah, I did it, here’s where I left this, did that, did this. Done. Can I have a cigarette now?
With all of that said dwelling into the gory aspects of the murders in any such detail other than verbal descriptions was probably for the best in this particular show.
These mild descriptions allow the audience to fill in the blanks and a show not heavily relying on bloody violence doesn’t make Nilsen any less of a monster in the eyes of the audience.
Consisting of three hour-long episodes Des will take us through the life of the killer, forensic investigations, interviews and the trials.
It certainly seems to me that three episodes may just not be enough, especially given the pace that has been set with this introductory episode but a captivating and eerie performance from Tennant is certainly watchable television to whet the appetite of any true-crime fan.
Des episode 1 ITV review by Sean Evans
Episode Reviews
Our Rating
Summary
Whilst a little bit too fast paced for my liking it feels though three episodes will certainly not be enough to wrap this gripping true-crime story but a stellar David Tennant performance keeps me hooked from start to finish in this otherwise rather surface level affair.
