Like Dan, the philosophy tutor in BBC1’s new drama Waiting for the Out, and like Andy West, who wrote the memoir on which it is based, I have taught philosophy in prisons. And I can attest, at least in some respects, to its verisimilitude. The surrendering of personal items (definitely and especially including phones) at the entrance, the heavy doors that clang shut behind you as you penetrate into the interior; the bare walls, the clattering concrete floors; and the disconcerting way that once you are ensconced in the classroom with your students, the prison guard buggers off sharpish and locks the door behind them.
The series has been well-received, with the Guardian reviewer lauding it as ‘magnificent’. Based on the first episode, I can’t go that far; but there is plenty to admire here. Josh Finan, who plays Dan, has exactly the right face for the part: a speaking countenance, intelligent, vulnerable, thoughtful, weak. He looks exactly the kind of young man who’d get a job teaching philosophy to prisoners and be shit-scared about it. And his troubled face reflects the complexity of his character. He has OCD, is a commitment-phobe, sees visions, desires but does not dare to be a dad and is terrified of ending up, like his own father, as a prison inmate.
The class of cons that he teaches (though somewhat whiter overall than one would be likely to encounter in a London Prison) are sharply drawn, and the philosophy class is an excellent forum for each of their characters to do a turn. The drama tackles themes of masculinity, vulnerability, hope, despair, redemption, and the grip of the past. And there are flashes of humour. Not all the jokes come off – the running gag about Dan buying steel-capped boots to protect him on his trip to jail didn’t come off for me – but there moments that will raise a smile, such as the observation by one of the cons that Pandora’s box really means ‘Pandora’s fanny’. So that’s all pretty good. Not magnificent, but good. I’ll probably watch the other episodes.
But. But, but, but. As a drama, this seems all too written. One of the prisoners, for example, Keith, a burly bearded Scot, is prone to standing up and giving erudite, impassioned speeches, aimed at putting poor Dan in his place. But the speeches don’t sound as if anyone would ever say them in real life. They’re set-pieces and feel shoehorned in. None of the other prisoners get quite such good opportunities for acting as Keith, but it’s the same with them; their lines and their exchanges would look great on the page but feel less convincing off it.
I kept imagining how much funnier, fresher and more realistic this would seem had it been written and directed by, say, Mike Leigh. To put the point philosophically, the characters need to offer a more compelling illusion of having free will.
The whole series is now available on BBC iPlayer.
Brandon Robshaw is the author of
Pictured - Josh Finane as Dan. BBC/Sister Pictures/Kerry Spicer
