Jackson Booth-Millard In recent years I have become more up for trying new dramas, I always give the first episode a chance, and if I like it I'm very likely to continue the majority if not the entire series, and that was the case with this one from the BBC. Basically in Manchester Vince McKee (David Morrissey) is having financial troubles, and working as a taxi driver does not make him enough money, so he and "friend" Colin Vine (Harry Potter's Ian Hart) talk to a man who calls himself The Horse (Colm Meaney) about working for him. The Horse offers Vince a job working as his driver, he gives him a new car and a phone, he tells him that whenever he calls he is needed as the driver to transport whatever it is he is told, person or object, with no questions asked, and he will be paid thousands for doing so. At first Vince finds this job rewarding, he just gets on with the driving and makes the most of the money he is making, including reconnecting with his estranged wife Rosalind (Severance's Claudie Blakley), but soon consequences come from it when he really acknowledges the crime side to what he is doing, and people get hurt as a result. The biggest problem Vince has is not keeping this secret from his family, but he cannot get out of it without risking the bigger consequences to himself and others, he is tempted at one point to tell the police, but things just get more complicated. Also starring Darren Morfitt as Mickey, Andrew Tiernan as Darren, Shaun Dingwall as Detective Ryder, Andrew Knott as Detective O'Connor, Sacha Parkinson as Katie McKee, Lewis Rainer as Tim McKee, Chris Coghill as Woodsy, Lee Ross as Kev Mitchell, Harish Patel as Amjad and Nathan McMullen as Joseph Paslowski. Morrissey is a good choice for the vulnerable but desperate leading character, Hart gets his moments as the other man doing the job with him, and Meaney is great as the gangster who doesn't let him out, you could argue that the makers must have got some of their ideas from the Jason Statham - Transporter films, but it was interesting to watch, it had its fair share of small thrills, and it is written well, overall it is a watchable crime drama. Very good!

paul2001sw-1 David Morrisey (over-)emotes his way through 'The Driver', the story of an ordinary man who gets caught up with organised crime. As you do. And the problem with this drama is that Morrisey's character is wildly under-motivated for his actions, yet acts as if he a victim of unavoidable circumstances. Does a law-abiding taxi driver who runs into an old mate just out of prison suddenly decide to become a criminal himself? Is it really likely that on his first job, fetching and carrying for a gang, he nearly gets stopped by the police? Or that he gets called out to his new work every time his wife is about to make nice with him? And what really is the chance that, at key moment in an armed robbery (which is also a police sting), he feels compelled to flee the scene to take the last chance he'll ever get to see his son again? In some ways, it should be an easy story to tell, there are many temptations which lead people to be drawn into things which prove worse than they'd expected. But the driver seems to get no pay-off, and only immediate pain, for his inexplicable choice. The result is an unenlightening morality tale, with the odd gripping moment but too much anguish and not enough sense.

Tweekums Taxi driver Vince McKee isn't having the best of times; he is working every night but still isn't earning enough money and the job is utterly depressing. Then his old friend Colin returns after a stretch in prison and is soon trying to get Vince a 'job'. At first he refuses but soon he is working for 'The Horse'; he is just delivering packages but the pay is good and his family are happy, although they don't know where the money is coming from. The Horse always calls before a job but one day Colin turns up saying he is needed; it turns out Colin is to kidnap a rival criminal, beat him and leave him to die. Vince can't cope with that so returns later and takes the severely injured man to hospital. This leads to Colin getting a beating and Vince fearing for his life… it looks as if the only way out for him is to work for the police; crossing The Horse will be incredibly dangerous though.This series got off to a great start as we see Vince driving aggressively to get away from pursuing police… we then flash back to see how he got to that point. The story isn't the most original but it is told in a way that keeps the viewer gripped; right until the final credits began I was unsure what would happen to Vince. This is down to the fine performances; particularly from David Morrissey who plays Vince, the ordinary man in an extraordinary situation and Colm Meaney who plays the menacing Horse. The fact that the series is only three episodes long means there is no time for padding; even the apparently irrelevant subplot involving Vince's son who has joined a cult proves relevant in the end. Overall this was well worth watching; it is probably even better if you watch all three episodes in one go.

Prismark10 The driver starts with a thrilling car chase as Vince McKee (David Morrissey) evades the police in the streets of Manchester. You almost feel this could be akin to the film Drive.Vince life takes an unexpected turn as an old friend Colin (Ian Hart) released from prison gets him to accept an offer to drive for a criminal gang.Vince a taxi driver, sick with the life as a cabbie finds that he is an ordinary man who is in over his head by being a driver for the criminals. His life has taken a turn for the worse since his son joined some kind of cult and he and his wife have drifted apart.Gang leader, The Horse (Colm Meaney) is not a man who stands for nonsense, when a job which leads to a man being shoved in a hole and left for dead goes awry, Vince realises he wants his old life back but the police are also watching him.After a bright opening episode, you realise from the second episode that this three parter has a flimsy plot. Vince is not cut out to be a bad boy, his mistakes lands his friend Colin in a spot of bother and in the final episode the Police have got him and its a case of whether Vince will give the gang up.A disappointment when you realise that this could had been a good 90 minutes film. Meaney, Hart and Morrissey act their parts well, some of the car chase scenes are exciting, there is a lot of grittiness and the scenes where he confronts his son in the cult's home will make your heart cry for Vince but it needed a more solid script.