Litvinenko, ITV, Monday at 9pm
Poisoned to death with a drop of polonium in a teapot - it sounds completely made up, doesn't it?
Throw in the fact that the victim was a Russian spy and the story sounds like the script of a television drama.
And yes, while it has all the elements of a spy series, Litvinenko, a four-part adaptation by ITV, is a true story with devastating consequences.
Who could forget that image of former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko lying gravely ill in the hospital bed in 2006.
I remember when it was made headline news with the spectacular claims that the vocal Kremlin critic was slowly being killed by a highly toxic radioactive substance that had been dropped into his tea at a Mayfair hotel.
It was a murder widely believed to have been carried out on the orders of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
His death shocked the world andsparked one of the biggest cases to date for the Metropolitan Police.
The ITV drama sees David Tennant take on the role of Litvinenko.
Trying his best to replace his thick Scottish accent with Russian mumblings, the first episode begins with Litvinenko, his wife Marina and their son Anatoly learning they have become British citizens.
But the celebrations are short-lived and moments later Litvinenko becomes violently ill and is coughing up blood.
Fast forward rather quickly and the Russian defector is in hospital hooked up to numerous machines and his health declining at a quick rate.
From then on, the programme - which originally aired on ITVX last year - draws on the 18 hours of testimony that Litvinenko gave from his deathbed, spending his final days on earth helping police find his killers.
“I know how this happened. I know when. I know why.”#Litvinenko, starring #DavidTennant - starts Monday 19th June at 9pm on ITV1. pic.twitter.com/M2UCr1ShzI
— ITV (@ITV) June 16, 2023
The drama follows two detectives, Brent Hyatt (Neil Maskell) and Jim Dawson (Barry Sloane), who are called to University College Hospital in London to interview him and to hear, what they first believe are his bizarre claims that he had been poisoned on the direct orders of Putin.
He tells the questioning detectives that he needs to report his own murder before it has even happened.
"Detective, I need to report a murder,...mine," he says.
"I know how this happened, I know when, I know why. Detective, I will explain to you my story before it is too late."
Questioning his sanity at first, "well if he is a nutter, he's the most level-headed nutter I have ever come across and I've met a few", they say.
The entire episode hangs on Litvinenko’s own testimony, the two officers setting up a make-shift interview room at his hospital bedside, eager to take every word of his detailed statement as his health deteriorates hour by hour.
Propped up by hospital pillows as he slowly succumbed to the radioactive poison, he is asked who he believes is responsible for the poisoning and quite simply replies: "His name is Vladimir Putin".
During the police interviews, Litvinenko provides meticulous details from the events that led up to his hospitalisation to the two former KGB assassins sent by Putin, with Tennant occasionally dipping into his Russian dictionary as he tries to pull off the role.
Somewhat unrecognisable in the drama, hairless and hollowed-eyed, Tennant is mostly confined to deathbed scenes in the episode as he portrays a man desperately battling to get his story told.
The inevitable happens and Litvinenko passes away.
But as the episode closes the viewer, who perhaps could be unaware of the real outcome, is left wondering was he able to provide enough information that will ultimately help the detectives bring those responsible to justice.
The first episode may not have been as gripping as I had expected, but as Tennant himself said this week, it is "important" to retell Litvinenko's story.
"What Litvinenko set out to do was to make sure this story was told, that's how it felt."
