In Victorian London, pornographer Anton Verloc lives above his Soho shop with his wife Winnie and her retarded brother Stevie. Verloc is an ineffectual Russian informant having infiltrated a small circle of anarchists, the police know of Verloc but view him and the anarchists as harmless.
The Russians are bored with Verloc's inaction and demand he instigate a terrorist bombing at Greenwich Observatory - the only anarchist to agree is 'The Professor' who supplies Verloc with the bomb, believing that society needs terrorising.
Verloc uses hapless Stevie as a cover for the bombing while lonely Winnie is wooed by one of the anarchists Ossipon.
Dogged Inspector Heat arrests 'The Professor' but as he does, Stevie is killed when the bomb explodes accidentally.
Winnie is consumed with grief and becomes submerged in tragedy...
Shelf or charity shop? A pervading air of dread and tragedy haunts McDougall's handling of Tony Marchant's adaptation for the BBC which loses Conrad's light touch but the excellent performances of Toby Jones and Vicky McClure as Mr and Mrs Verloc, Stephen Graham as the pursuing Inspector Heat and Ian Hart as the sociopath 'Professor' make it worthy of a place in my dvd limbo of a plastic storage box.
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