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THE COMMITTEE
Tuesdays, BBC1
The story of convicted American fraudster Elizabeth Holmes’ tech start-up Theranos is an example of contemporary hubris very large.
At an astonishing $9 billion—which is what Holmes’ company was valued at at its peak—her 50 percent stake made her America’s youngest-ever female self-made billionaire.
Still, Theranos failed to deliver anything close to the game-changing blood-testing technology (quick, painless, needed just one drop) that Holmes had promised the company’s famous investors—which included Rupert Murdoch on board for $125 million.
Spun from a podcast of the same name, the TV series (first airing on Disney+ in 2022) is both a forensic look at Holmes’ fiery rise and spectacular fall (she was imprisoned for 11 years in 2022) and an edge-of-the-seat drama, that entertains, informs and frightens.
The story of convicted American fraudster Elizabeth Holmes’ tech start-up Theranos is an example of contemporary hubris very large. Above: Amanda Seyfried as Holmes
Spun from a podcast of the same name, the TV series is both a forensic look at Holmes’ fiery rise and spectacular fall and a drama that entertains, informs and frightens. Above: Amanda Seyfried as Holmes
Central to its success is Amanda Seyfried as Holmes (above), who embodies a journey from obsessive teenager to obsessive late thirties so brilliantly over eight addictive episodes that it earned her an Emmy and a Golden Globe. It’s a long way from Mamma Mia!
There’s also a great supporting cast, including Naveen Andrews (as Holmes’ lover/business mentor Sunny Balwani), Stephen Fry (as Theranos’ chief scientist Ian Gibbons) and – stealing the fourth episode – Alan Ruck, aka Succession’s Connor Roy, as ‘Dr Jay Rosan, an executive at the American pharmacy chain Walgreens.
It’s during a pivotal, darkly comic scene in that episode (set in 2010 and tellingly titled Old White Men) that Rosan tells wavering colleagues: ‘Look, everything is risky right now. The economy is on the way. Start-ups are the only thing making money… Twitter is worth $3.6 billion!’
“Twitter doesn’t take blood,” notes the lone dissenting voice. Yet, driven by the unthinkable possibility of missing out on the next big tech thing, none of the ‘old white men’ want to hear it.
As both compelling television and a depressing metaphor for capitalism at its most chaotic, The Dropout cannot be bettered
As the poster girl for female tech executives (a tiny gang even today), Holmes made the covers of Fortune and Forbes magazines.
Adopting a deep voice, Thatcher-style, and a black polo neck, Steve Jobs-style, she assumed boardroom gravitas while revealing herself as a nerdy Millennial by painting quotes from Star Wars’ Yoda on the walls of her headquarters .
Holmes probably thought she could keep the investment income flowing until the faulty technology finally caught up with her grand vision. Except it never did; it is still not possible to run several complex tests with a single microdrop of blood.
Her trial ruled that Holmes must have known her ‘vision’ was fatally flawed and he was effectively running Theranos as a Ponzi scheme.
However, the result was not just a prison sentence. She also made fun of those investors, greedy and/or gullible enough to buy into the fantasy.
As both compelling television and a depressing metaphor for capitalism at its most chaotic, The Dropout couldn’t be better.
Too exciting to be a total knockout
COMA
Min 5
Evaluation: 
In this fast-paced drama, mild-mannered Simon (Jason Watkins) intervenes when a homeless man is harassed on the street and catches the attention of clever, menacing teenage gang leader Jordan.
Soon enough, Simon’s car is keyed and after an argument outside his house, it’s just a hop, skip and a jump before Jordan languishes in a coma… in the same hospital where Simon’s wife Beth (Claire Skinner) is a nurse .
In this fast-paced drama, mild-mannered Simon (Jason Watkins) intervenes when a homeless man is harassed on the street and catches the attention of badass, menacing teenage gang leader Jordan
However, things start to unravel plot-wise when Simon loses his job (just to manage not to hit his horrible slippery boss) and at the same time makes a new, unwelcome ‘friend’ in Jordan’s father, Paul (Boat Story’s Jonas Armstrong), himself a criminal , who is used to showing up on Simon’s doorstep.
Meanwhile, Simon is now a local newspaper hero for administering CPR to Jordan – but has old Harry (David Bradley, with Skinner, Armstrong and Watkins) next door seen everything?
Despite a great cast (Watkins and Skinner’s acting synergy was also seen in ITV’s McDonald & Dodds), after a strong start the show’s excitement (too much plot, too fast!) largely outweighed its strengths – right up until the bitter end.
Michael Portillo packs a lot into Great British Railway Journeys (Mon-Fri, BBC2). Last week he inspected an HS2 viaduct, visited the ‘seat of chair making’ in High Wycombe and met top bosses of Oxfam and The Soil Association plus Longleat’s Ceawlin Thynn, the 8th Marquess of Bath.
After trying out some train signaling and flying with the fleet at Yeovilton, Michael didn’t even get any down time in a dining car. Anyone else want to bring them back?
Paradise perfected
Death In Paradise fans will remember DI Humphrey Goodman’s (Kris Marshall) past crimes in Saint Marie.
Last year, Kris Marshall and his fiancee Martha were resurrected in Devon in Beyond Paradise
Last year he reappeared and engaged Martha (Not Going Out’s Sally Bretton, above with Marshall) in Devon in Beyond Paradise (Friday, BBC1).
Officer, I admit it: I prefer BP to its progenitor. DIP’s sun-kissed cozy crime has been replaced by something less twee, more pointed. Maybe it’s the weather.
‘You cannot do this work half-heartedly. You’re either all in or all out!’
Charlie Fairhead, as a young nurse, gets some advice in a special episode to mark actor Derek Thompson’s final in Casualty, BBC iPlayer