BBC America’s miniseries ‘The Long Firm’ uses four narrators to tell a fractured tale of a gay gangster living in ’60s London.

Lord Teddy Thursby (Sir Derek Jacobi, left) is one of four narrators reflecting on the life of gay gangster Harry Starks (Mark Strong) in BBC America’s four-part miniseries ‘The Long Firm,’ which begins on Sunday, March 6, at 10 p.m.

THESE DAYS THE miniseries format is more popular in comic books than on television shows. For comics, it’s an especially successful formula, spreading one story out over several issues. Even better, one writer will tell several stories over a number of issues but use different characters and artists to illustrate the action.

This tactic has finally made its way to the small screen, thanks to BBC America’s “The Long Firm,” a four-part miniseries that debuts on Sunday, March 6, at 10 p.m., on the digital cable channel. Each one-hour episode, which airs on consecutive Sundays, from March 6-27, is presided over by a different narrator, each telling the story of Harry Starks, a charismatic, fictional London gangster in the ’60s and ’70s.

Using Starks as a focal point, the show, based on a novel by Jake Arnott and already a hit when it aired in the United Kingdom, really tells the stories of four different reflections of Starks.

AND DON’T FORGET that the violent, charming, brooding, sexy Starks is gay. Think Chris Keller (Christopher Meloni’s gay character on HBO’s “Oz”) with a British accent. What’s surprising is that, especially for the ’60s and ’70s, it is dealt with very matter-of-factly.

What impresses Lord Teddy Thursby (Derek Jacobi) the first narrator, is the gusto with which Starks embraces his sexual orientation and his disregard of others’ disapproval of it. He first meets Starks at a fabulous party full of pretty boys where the gangster pushes one of the boys against a wall and starts making out with him. (Yes, just like Keller.)

Everyone knows Starks likes men but, going along with the trope of the series, the only time his relationships are seen as a problem are through the eyes of other characters.

Just as “Bugsy” portrayed real-life gangster Bugsy Siegel as a skirt chaser without judgment, Starks is shown checking out his fair share of attractive men.

UNFORTUNATELY, THIS FRACTURED portrait technique that makes the “The Long Firm” successful is also its greatest detractor. (The double entendre title comes from the scam that made Starks rich, where a fake company buys a ton of goods on credit and then sells them without paying the supplier.)

First, we see Starks through the eyes of Thursby, a nebbishy former conservative member of Parliament who keeps his same-sex dabbling on the down low. Here, Starks is portrayed as wealthy, brash, violent and intimidating.

Next is the story of Ruby (Lena Headey), a former movie star who becomes Starks’ best friend after her husband is sent to prison. She eventually starts sleeping with the gangster’s boyfriend and breaks his heart. Here, Starks is portrayed as a sad, lonely, desperate man.

Jimmy (Phil Daniels) a smarmy drug dealer coping with addiction, meets Starks in prison and views him as strong and determined when the two try to solve the murder of a call boy.

Finally, after Starks is imprisoned, he meets Lenny (Shaun Dingwall), a sociology student who wants to study him as part of his dissertation on deviance (because he’s a gangster, not because he’s gay). Here, Starks is smart, cagey, clinical and dangerous.

Starks is unforgettable. And after the series ends, audiences will be hoping that more narrators come along to share their views of this complicated soul very soon.
© Southern Voice Online

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