Richard Armitage plays respected consultant William Farrow, whose taut encounters with Charlie Murphy’s enigmatic Anna Barton begin in a glazed hotel room overlooking the Thames and end in wreckage across four terse episodes. Anna is engaged to William’s son Jay (Rish Shah), a fact that neither she nor William treat as an obstacle; their bruising liaisons, choreographed by directors Glenn Leyburn and Lisa Barros D’Sa, are shot in tight close-ups that leave little off-limits for Netflix’s 15-rating yet keep the camera firmly above the waist whenever rope appears. Each episode runs 33–43 minutes, a brevity that lets the plot sprint from first kiss to police interview without pausing to deepen anyone beyond their appetites.
The script, adapted from Josephine Hart’s 1991 novel Damage, relocates the action from Westminster corridors to a minimalist Notting Hill townhouse and a private clinic where William’s surgical mask becomes a handy disguise for guilt. Indira Varma supplies brittle elegance as William’s wife Ingrid, who clocks the affair early but chooses a glass of Sancerre over confrontation until the final reckoning. A late-stage car crash, lifted almost shot-for-shot from Louis Malle’s 1992 film version, lands with less shock than the sight of Armitage weeping in a hospital corridor while still wearing blood-spattered scrubs.
Released on 13 April 2023, the Gaumont and Moonage co-production was binge-viewed by 21 million accounts in its first fortnight according to Netflix’s self-reported figures, but critics outnumbered fans two to one on Rotten Tomatoes, citing thin psychology and dialogue that sounds like a French-to-English subtitle track. The series ends exactly where Hart’s book does, with William addressing camera in voice-over: “Damaged people are dangerous because they know they can survive.”
Production Details
Netflix / 1 Season / 4 Episodes / 2023
Writer(s): Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, Benji Walters
Producer(s): Gina Carter
Main Cast
Richard Armitage as William Farrow
Charlie Murphy as Anna Barton
Indira Varma as Ingrid Farrow
Rish Shah as Jay Farrow
Anil Goutam as Edward
Sonera Angel as Sally Farrow
Pippa Bennett-Warner as Peggy
Marion Bailey as Elizabeth
Francesca Knight as Nadia
Nathan Hubble as Xander
Isla Jackson-Ritchie as Peggy's Receptionist
Daniel Boys as Surgeon
