Red Joan

It may well be inspired by real events but that doesn't stop it flowing like glue most of the time. Dame Judi Dench leads a workmanlike cast with Sophie Cookson playing her younger self; Tom Hughes and Stephen Campbell Moore in the story of a suburban housewife with a treacherous secret past. Sir Trevor Nunn doesn't manage to inject any sort of pace into this and as such it just ends up being another star vehicle for the star who features sparingly. Watchable, if only because it does give you some indications as to how people who felt they were doing the "right thing" in the sixties were easy pickings for the KGB recruiters; but otherwise this film is a little empty.