Two rookies in their respective areas of investigation find themselves working on the same case – but from different angles. It’s all lightweight fun playing on the age-old buddy-buddy story as, over seven episodes, three different narratives of corporate fraud are explored.
First off (three episodes) is pharmaceutical fraud as a British company attempts to keep old trials of their best-selling drug secret: rival American film know there’s a cover-up and are out to expose the results. But there are a few who need to be removed from the scene first. Second tale concerns the death of a labourer on the site of a major central London development with the third involving counter terrorism and a non-for-profit organisation raising money for African orphans.
The strength of New Blood is the budding friendship of Stefan and Arrash (Ben Tavassoli) – cute, laddish, irreverent but driven by a moral code. Arrash is a trainee detective, Stefan (Mark Strepan) an investigator at the Serious Fraud Office. Their paths cross by chance but become the lynchpin for off-the-record joint investigations as the pair look to make their mark.
The first story is a superior political and corporate thriller but material becomes somewhat thinly spread by the ill-conceived boys’ own adventure of counter-terrrorism and assassinations of the third. New Blood is cliched, obvious, with glaring holes in plot line and dialogue, yet it certainly has appeal. And Mark Addy as Arrash’s cynical immediate boss is a gem.
Rating: 57%
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