The Veil review – Elisabeth Moss muddles through creaky spy series

The actor struggles with a distractingly unbelievable British accent in Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight’s tiresome espionage drama

The intimidating glut of prestige shows rushed to air before the end of the Emmys eligibility period makes it harder than ever to know how one should portion out viewing time. Recent weeks have seen new projects from big names like Park Chan-Wook with stars such as Ewan McGregor, Michael Douglas and Julianne Moore while the remaining days see actors like André Holland and Benedict Cumberbatch premiere dramas alongside the return of awards magnet Hacks.

There’s an inevitable impossibility for the average viewer, and voter, trying to schedule it all in and so certain shows will, and must, be sacrificed. The Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight’s globe-trotting spy drama The Veil is the perfect lamb for the job, a bafflingly bad time-waster that can be easily excised and promptly forgotten. It’s a hodgepodge of shows we’ve seen before – a bit of Killing Eve, a touch of Homeland – but it’s mostly reminiscent of a junky Netflix action movie only stretched over six episodes and with a laughably straight face. Perhaps if it had been told in less than two hours with more light-footed action to distract us, it might not have been such a slog.

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