By casting unfashionable fortysomethings Glazer and team create a realistic London underworld; suited and booted wideboys are out. Moreover, the sharp contrast between sun-bleached Spain and torrential London shows visual flair and a feel for linking moods and landscapes. Even the dream sequences resemble the weird experience of nightmares, rather than the Elm Street banality deployed in many a movie. Yet all this is the dressing which makes the battle of wills between the male leads so compelling.

The same cannot be said of Julian Simpson's The Criminal, which creaks under the weight of its pedestrian plotting and perforated plausibility. With Steven Mackintosh providing the Lock, Stock connection and a TV cast, including a wooden Eddie Izzard, the noir themes and conspiracy theories flow thick and fast once Jasper picks up turncoat spook Sarah Maitland (Natasha Little). At some point in the scripting process someone should have asked whether government departments would actually behave in the ways shown: clearly a case of 'conspire first, find motives later'. Endless running around London can't hide the fact that we care little for Jasper's dilemma as his plight descends into a silliness involving apparent Soho porn barons, swearing detectives and a homeless eco-warrior. The Criminal's sole contribution to the British crime genre will be to help tip the balance towards the duff gangland of Circus and Love, Honour and Obey, perhaps dragging down Sexy Beast in the process. That would be criminal.