Written by Pete Jackson
Directed by Isabella Eklöf
Bunny: "You won't catch Bunny Munro."
Ah, Matt Smith. When it comes to television shows, his instincts tend to be the strongest in ending up in projects that play o his strengths as an actor. We've seen that with Doctor Who, The Crown, House Of The Dragon and now this six part miniseries.
Based on a book from Nick Cave of the same time, The Death Of Bunny Munro had Smith playing the titular character. Bunny's a misogynistic ageing lothario/salesman with a wife named Libby (Sarah Greene) and a son named Bunny Junior (Rafael Mathé). Bunny's not done right by either one of them.
In fact the show opened with Bunny cheating on Libby and not for the first time. Only this time, Libby killed herself and would appear to both her husband and son via flashbacks and dream sequences. Libby's death naturally had consequences for Bunny. Mostly because he had to deal with the continuing threat of social services taking his son for him.
As a character, Bunny doesn't deal with anything particularly well. He continued to sleep with women after Libby's death and even lost of his few friends, Poodle (Johann Myers) as a result. On top of that, Bunny's sales skills were clearly on the decline.
There's moments in the show when his sales patter really faltered. An encounter with Charlotte Parnovar (Elizabeth Bennington) had Bunny ripped to pieces as a character. Bunny retaliated by wrecking the woman's house. There's another encounter with an elderly woman that's almost played for laughs.
Another component of this series was the reports of a serial killer looming in the background. The show ended with Bunny being killed, which wasn't shocking given how destructive he was throughout the show. A minor quibble but I do wish they had fleshed that side story a bit better in between the devolving dynamic between Bunny and his son.
- Episode titles were Family Man, Salesman, Cocksman, Con Man, Dead Man and Showman.
- There's some nice support roles from Lindsay Duncan and David Threlfall. The former played Libby's mother and the latter played Bunny's father. Robert Glenister also appeared as Bunny's boss, Geoffrey.
- Standout music: Nick Cave sang the theme tune and guest starred in the finale.
- Chronology: 2003 Sussex.
The Death Of Bunny Munro really did further highlight how underrated an actor Matt Smith truly is. Bunny Munro might not be the most sympathetic of lead characters but Smith drew a lot of sympathy for an ultimately tragic character. A great miniseries.
Rating: 8 out of 10
