The Undeclared War

It’s interesting stuff. But first you need to swallow the ludicrous idea that the only person capable of staving off World War Three has been in the job for two hours.

This is a surprisingly weak entry in Kosminsky’s career in docudramas and dramas of all kinds. The story engine powering “The Undeclared War” needed a tuneup long before the actors got to the set.

When The Undeclared War ratchets up the tension of that possibility, it’s relatively gripping. It’s too bad, then, that the rest of it is content to shuffle along at a snail’s pace, taking us down detours and refusing to engage more deeply with its political concerns.

[The Undeclared War] is well-intentioned, well-researched, and, well, boring. ... This densely detailed show eventually gets someplace chilling in its final episodes as it centers not just cyber warfare but the way that technology and social media can shape political perception. But the first half of this six-chapter series has a tendency to drag.

It moves at a glacial pace and the GCHQ staff have the air of reluctant office workers on data entry shifts, boredly tapping at their keyboards until it’s time for a statutory tea break – rather than people frantically trying to hold off an enemy assault that could kill thousands and hurl the nation back to the middle ages, or at least the 1990s.