Already swiped right on Netflix\u2019s brilliantly-named documentary The Tinder Swindler<\/a>? Well, BBC One\u2019s new Sunday night drama Chloe<\/a> is another story of fake personas, intricate deception and the perils of the online world, which has the\u00a0 potential to leave your jaws well and truly dropped.<\/p>\n The brainchild of Sex Education<\/a> writer and director Alice Seabright is a work of pure fiction, but it contains elements that will ring true for those of us who can\u2019t get out of bed before scrolling endlessly through social media. That\u2019s how we first meet our complicated heroine (or perhaps villain?) Becky Green (Erin Doherty). She\u2019s still obsessing over the same Instagram-esque account when she\u2019s tucking into her honey hoops at the breakfast table. It belongs to the titular Chloe (Poppy Gilbert), who had a seemingly picture-perfect life.<\/p>\n Is this simply a case of peer envy? In contrast to Chloe\u2019s wedded bliss and opulent country mansion, Becky is a single temp agency worker who begrudgingly cares for her dementia-afflicted mother (Lisa Palfrey) in a cramped flat. Or is there a particular reason she\u2019s fixated on the photos which look like they\u2019ve been plucked straight from the pages of a glossy magazine?<\/p>\n Becky\u2019s interest reaches new unsettling heights when she spots an intriguing, and ultimately final, post on Chloe\u2019s account: a quote from The Smiths\u2019 There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (\u201cTo die by your side is such a heavenly way to die\u201d), which essentially serves as a suicide note. After learning from the police that the previous night\u2019s two missed calls were made by the deceased in her final hours, Becky makes the logical next step to discover why: ingratiate herself into Chloe\u2019s well-to-do inner circle by posing as an art gallery marketer named Sasha.<\/p>\n Changing identity already seems to be something of a part-time hobby for Becky. Even before all of the sleuthing, she gate-crashes a charity function pretending to be a cat-loving doula called Helena. And she\u2019s fully credible in each guise too, effortless charmingly both as a fellow partygoer and a key member of the friendship group, while also quickly establishing a strong connection with its amiable lynchpin Livia (Pippa Bennett-Warner).<\/p>\n There\u2019s fun to be had watching the various devious ways in which Becky engineers such relationships: deliberately puncturing Livia\u2019s tyres at a health club in order to play the good Samaritan, for example, or taking advantage of widower Elliot\u2019s (Billy Howle) hospitable nature by acting too drunk to drive home.<\/p>\n She often seems to relish leaning into her Machiavellian streak. \u201cI can\u2019t lie to save my life,\u201d Becky tells Livia with a wink having just blagged her way into her yoga session. And then there\u2019s the banter with Josh (Brandon Micheal Hall), a man on the periphery of the group who discovers, threatens to reveal and then helps to sustain her double life.<\/p>\n However, behind this brazenness, there\u2019s also a deep sense of paranoia and a vivid troubling imagination, which is perhaps exacerbated by her mum\u2019s brutal honesty \u2013 \u201cYou look like a weird little man,\u201d she\u2019s told just before heading on a night out. Becky constantly envisages the derisory comments her new acquaintances might make about her when she leaves the room. Not only that, she continually ruminates on the social media images she\u2019s forever perusing, which briefly come to life alongside dreamlike snapshots of Chloe\u2019s last moments.<\/p>\n Having boosted Princess Anne\u2019s popularity with her witty portrayal in the third and fourth seasons of The Crown<\/a>, it\u2019s little surprise that Doherty is able to flit between each of Becky\u2019s multiple personalities \u2013 sullen daughter, diligent employee, high-flying socialite \u2013 with impressive conviction.<\/p>\n She also manages to draw sympathy from a character whose motives, no matter how unclear, are often questionable. There\u2019s an excruciating dinner party scene in which she\u2019s belittled by Richard (Jack Farthing), a childhood friend of Chloe\u2019s who appears to be more emotionally devastated by her passing than her husband. Becky is there under false pretences and yet, you pity her in that moment.<\/p> The opening episode sets the scene nicely, delivering a shocking ending which will leave you reassessing everything that\u2019s gone before. But the much-slower second (and only other available for review) throws on the brakes somewhat, with the mystery stalling slightly due to an over-reliance on childhood flashbacks. Two episodes in and you do wonder how the story will possibly stretch to a further four.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, with a compelling lead performance, an intriguing central premise and a strong visual style, not to mention a haunting original score from Goldfrapp\u2019s Will Gregory, Chloe still appears worthy of a double tap.<\/p>\n Chloe premieres on BBC One tonight (Sunday, 6th February) at 9pm \u2013 check out our <\/strong>Drama<\/strong><\/a> hub for all the latest news. <\/strong>If you\u2019re looking for something else to watch tonight, check out our <\/strong>TV Guide<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Abby Robinson Published: Sunday, 06 February 2022 at 12:00 am By: Jon O\u2019Brien. 4.0 out of 5 star rating Already swiped right on Netflix\u2019s brilliantly-named documentary The Tinder Swindler? Well, BBC One\u2019s new Sunday night drama Chloe is another story of fake personas, intricate deception and the perils of the online world, which has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":10837,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/02\/chloe-review-scheming-sex-and-social-climbing-in-compelling-mystery.png",1940,1284,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/02\/chloe-review-scheming-sex-and-social-climbing-in-compelling-mystery-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/02\/chloe-review-scheming-sex-and-social-climbing-in-compelling-mystery-300x199.png",300,199,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/02\/chloe-review-scheming-sex-and-social-climbing-in-compelling-mystery-768x508.png",768,508,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/02\/chloe-review-scheming-sex-and-social-climbing-in-compelling-mystery-1024x678.png",800,530,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/02\/chloe-review-scheming-sex-and-social-climbing-in-compelling-mystery-1536x1017.png",1536,1017,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/02\/chloe-review-scheming-sex-and-social-climbing-in-compelling-mystery.png",1940,1284,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Abby Robinson Published: Sunday, 06 February 2022 at 12:00 am By: Jon O\u2019Brien. 4.0 out of 5 star rating Already swiped right on Netflix\u2019s brilliantly-named documentary The Tinder Swindler? Well, BBC One\u2019s new Sunday night drama Chloe is another story of fake personas, intricate deception and the perils of the online world, which has…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/10836"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\""Chloe,\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/02\/Chloe-BBC-7acd587.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"Chloe,\\"\/")
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