The ‘special relationship’ has always occupied a strange place in the British/US consciousness. It’s a complicated subject – see the recent meeting of Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak – with a lot of baggage; perfect material, in other words, for a new Netflix show about politics.
Our po-faced heroine is Kate Wyler, played here by The Americans’ Keri Russell with the kind of grimness that marks her out as a Very Serious Person. She’s been training her whole life to be America’s ambassador to the Middle East – except things don’t quite shake out that way.
Instead, a British aircraft carrier is bombed in the Persian Gulf (possibly by Iran) and the world is suddenly teetering on the precipice of war.
To help manage the situation, Kate is drafted in as the brand-new Ambassador to the UK: a role that comes with a private car, a very fancy house and a bevy of Downton Abbey-style underlings ready to make Kate’s life as easy as possible.
Unfortunately, she’s soon dealing with a host of other issues: a far-right journalist, played with oily smoothness by Celia Imrie; a glory-hunting, populist Prime Minister (Rory Kinnear), and even her own husband Hal.
Hal, played by Rufus Sewell with a twinkle in his eye, is politically infamous (for various reasons), loves to plot, has his fingers in multiple pies and refuses to admit that their marriage is falling apart. Oh, and he might have something to do with the fact that Kate is being considered for the soon-to-be-vacant role of Vice President – something that everyone except Kate seems to know.
In other words, there’s a lot to be getting on with here (and watching Hal and Kate’s interactions are undoubtedly some of The Diplomat’s highlights). However, the show juggles everything well, and it proceed at quite a clip. There are kidnappings, funerals, political infighting and even a meeting with the President, and that’s just in the first two episodes. Oh, and the Prime Minister drops a clanger that gets media organisations around the world salivating (remind you of anyone?).
Things move so fast, in fact, that there’s hardly enough time to sit back and wonder how realistic certain decisions Kate makes are. Spoiler alert: some are not. Fending off an imminent firing with a Vogue photoshoot because “you know what you can’t fire? A princess” seems a flimsy pretext to have Kate dress up in gorgeous clothes and ride a horse and carriage around the grounds of her fancy new house.
But The Diplomat does have a refreshing lack of the moral high ground. Here, the Americans aren’t so much the saviours of the day as the ones trying to shovel their way out of the mountain of excrement that has landed on their doorstep.
Frantic whispered conversations “straightening things out” are very much the order of the day; one exchange between Kate and the British defence secretary about the Prime Minister’s desire to glory-hunt absolutely seems eminently believable.
There’s serious chat about the state in which the US and UK have left the Middle East, references to Ukraine and flashes of lighthearted humour (though never too much – think The West Wing rather than The Thick of It) to tie it all together.
Plus, the character relationships alone are a good argument to continue watching: though Kate is a bit of a stiff, her veneer cracks more as the series goes on, hinting at as-yet untold history with her husband, her colleagues and even her job. The supporting characters are great, too (or at least the American ones are): well fleshed-out, having affairs all over the place, all with their own shady motives.
The Diplomat is an interesting take on the time-honoured political drama – though it doesn’t reach the lofty heights of The West Wing – and one that casts Americans and Brits in a rather unflattering light. United in chaos and confusion: long live the special relationship.
