Des review: ITV offers a compelling depiction of Dennis Nilsen’s deranged and twisted psyche

David Tennant stars as the serial killer in this new three-parter
ITV
Kimberley Bond15 September 2020

Compared to ITV’s more sparkling Autumn shows, such as Britain’s Got Talent and The Voice UK, the broadcaster’s flagship drama Des is distinctly unglamorous. The three-part drama opens with a montage of dingy, speckled footage from the early Eighties, a quick reminder to the audience that it was a time tempered with uncertainty, displacement and fear; a hostile environment which enabled a murderer like Dennis Nilsen, who cut up the corpses of vulnerable young men and boys and flushed their remains down the toilet, to kill undetected for over four years.

But it is Des’s distinct sense of grimy, unpolished bleakness, hanging in the air like sticky smoke (often quite literally – characters are constantly reaching for a pack of Silk Cut and puffing away) that makes it a compelling watch. The writers are keen to stress this was a real case, with real victims, and want the viewer to gain a full picture of how Nilsen operated – and even beguiled.

Unlike some crime dramas, which start with a grisly murder and then see police puzzle through for an hour until they unmask the killer, Des operates in reverse. The killer, played by Tennant (who has remarked on their uncannily similar looks) offers himself up to police just minutes after they find human remains clogging his drains, and then doesn’t stop talking. Detective Peter Jay (played perfectly by Daniel Mays) must instead search for the victims’ identity - most came from among the era's many homeless people - while navigating the deceptively ordinary Nilsen’s deranged and twisted psyche.

Tennant is best known for more chaotic but ultimately quite likeable characters, like Good Omens’ Crowley, Broadchurch’s DI Alec Hardy and of course, Doctor Who. This likeability plays perfectly for the superficial veneer of the so-called ‘kindly killer’, who lured his victims by promising food, shelter and lodgings for the night. Nilson openly and cheerfully co-operates with the police, nonchalantly describing how he dismembered bodies and boiled heads in the same manner you’d ask someone to pass the milk.

ITV

Because the brutality of the crimes is kept off-screen (and rightly so, families of the victims needn’t see a reconstruction of how their loved ones were slaughtered), we only see flashes of the monster that lurks beneath the co-operative construct: his anger over the police’s treatment of his beloved dog Bleep, his monstrous narcissism, reading reports about his own crimes, and his vicious snarl at biographer Brian Masters (Jason Watkins) about being tabloid fodder. It’s a brilliantly chilling performance by Tennant.

The first episode shows Nilsen toy with the police, taking pleasure in divulging his heinous actions to their shocked response. The second episode, which airs tonight, sees the police gear up for further charges; the final episode, tomorrow, is Nilsen’s trial and verdict. There are no twists and turns.

This grim but compelling drama instead focuses on the bleak and bitter truth – how homophobic attitudes underscored the case, how the police missed opportunities to catch Nilsen previously, and how Nilsen charmed then disposed of those close to him. It may not be the most thrilling detective drama this year, but it’ll certainly be the one that stays with you the longest.

Des continues tonight on ITV at 9pm.

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