'Truelove' Is an Accidentally Timely Story About Compassion vs Care

It is common practice for new British dramas to cast established American actors in a lead role – a surefire way to court audiences and funding that has trickled down from international, prestige, or streaming series like The Diplomat, The Gentlemen, Peaky Blinders, The Outlaws, or Industry to modest, terrestrial dramas like Truelove. Sure, Clarke Peters (The Wire) may not be as buzzy a name as Keri Russell, Giancarlo Esposito, Adrien Brody, or Christopher Walken, but the actor, who stars alongside Lindsey Duncan in this assisted suicide thriller has the advantage of having lived in London for decades (moving there in 1972 and working in British theatre and film for years).

Because his character Ken, an ex-SAS officer, grew up alongside Phil (Duncan) and a handful of now-elderly South West natives, Peters’ standout American accent is far less of an intrusion than Walken parachuted into Bristol community service. No shame to Walken, whose singular acting style makes him perfectly fish-out-of-water anywhere – but watching Peters in Truelove, you sense a life of self-elected social alienation and subdued regrets typical of a long-term British resident.

Ken’s genial but terse personality is a perfect match for the short-tempered and derisive Phil – once childhood sweethearts, they are now resigned to tipsy flirtations at their friends’ funerals. While mourning their pal Dennis, they make a drunken pact to help each other off themselves should they become impatient to wait for a natural death, which ex-detective Phil and former military man Ken don’t pay serious attention to until their cancer-suffering friend Tom (Karl Johnson) tries to hang himself. Moved by pity, empathy, and some other unknown force, Phil and Ken take Tom out on his boat away from the shore and stage an accidental drowning.