The return of this entertaining political drama is always welcome, though its soap-tinged mix of transatlantic politics and volatile personal relationships is beginning to look a little too genteel for our current age of ever-worsening crises.
In the real world we have Trump on the rampage, the Middle East liable to blow at any moment and China surreptitiously taking over the world, but somehow The Diplomat is still fussing over the terrorist attack on a British aircraft carrier, HMS Courageous, that happened way back at the beginning of Season One. Delightfully, the show never stops believing in the UK-US “special relationship”, as if we really still had an army, navy and air force that could undertake actual military operations.
The blame for whodiddit, Courageous-wise, seems to keep going around in a pass-the-parcel kind of way. First it was supposedly the Iranians, then a Russian mercenary called Lenkov became the prime suspect, and even the British Prime Minister, Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear, pictured left with Keri Russell), seemingly left his fingerprints all over it. And what about the shadowy Meg Roylin (Celia Imrie) – apparently some sort of rogue fixer for the Conservatives – who seems to have her finger in numerous highly-classified pies?
This third series will throw up new twists and dramatic revelations about the Courageous story which have the potential to create a huge Anglo-US bust-up, but that would also demolish the whole raison d’etre of The Diplomat. Despite the cynical political machinations that simmer away continually, the show is a rather old-fashioned American-style love letter to dear old Blighty, which is portrayed like a giant museum piece dating back to about 1964. London is always bathed in sunlight under blue skies, and isn’t crammed with pro-Palestine protestors, Lime bikes or phone-snatchers. One half expects to spot Dirk Bogarde or Julie Christie stepping into the frame.
The real US ambassador’s residence is Winfield House, an elegant pile in Regent’s Park, but the fictional Kate Wyler is accommodated among the green acres of Wrotham Park in Hertfordshire. Extremely well-mannered staff attend to her every need with a slickness that makes the Downton Abbey crew look like a bunch of drunken Millwall supporters. Cunningly, Wrotham Park also stands in for Chequers when the US President comes visiting.
Nonetheless, dramatic changes are taking place. The sudden death of US President Rayburn, in the middle of a conversation with Kate’s perpetually-scheming husband Hal (Rufus Sewell), finds Vice President Grace Penn (Allison Janney, pictured below with Bradley Whitford as husband Todd) propelled into the big chair in the White House. Naturally, this means that a new VP must be sought, and the smart money is on Kate getting the job. But no – it’s wily old Hal who gets the nod from President Penn.
However, Kate is the face of the show, so Debora Cahn and her squad of writers have had to cook up something important for her to do. This turns out to be a bafflingly schizophrenic job, in which she remains as Ambassador to the UK while also shuttling back and forth across the Atlantic to fulfil the nebulous role of the US “Second Lady”. Apparently the job can be “whatever she makes it”, and she seems to have made it a licence to print air miles.
Nonetheless, despite her hectic schedule, and never being sure whether she and Hal are still a couple or not, Kate finds time to woo not one but two lovers, the British Foreign Secretary Austin Dennison (David Gyasi) and suave British spy Callum Ellis (Aidan Turner).
Preposterous really, but reassuring in a funny sort of way.
