Prime Target's biggest problem is that it doesn't know how ridiculous it is

Just last year, we had Ludwig - of course, that one sold itself as a comedy-thriller from the off, but it took the preposterous premise of a man posing as his detective twin brother in order to solve his disappearance, and made it compelling, entertaining TV. To question its credulity would seem petty, and to be missing the point.

The Consultant and The Diplomat both added a lightness of tone to their silly set-ups, while Steven Moffat's Inside Man encased its contrived storyline in a decent amount of shlock, as well as plenty of quips and a particularly knowing performance from Stanley Tucci.

Now, along comes Prime Target, an eight-part thriller from Apple TV+. This show does not fall into the bracket of the previous examples.

It has the ridiculous premise, alright - in fact, it might be one of the most ridiculous stories we've seen on TV in quite some time. The eight-part series follows Edward Brooks (Leo Woodall), a brilliant postgraduate mathematician who is trying to find a formula for one of the world's most confounding mathematical phenomena - a pattern in prime numbers.

If he were to do so, he would, apparently, hold the key to every computer in the world - he would be able to bring down the banks, end entire economies and governments, cause chaos to reign across society. And we've not even got started yet.

In the wrong hands, we're told, this prime finder could be one of the most powerful weapons in the history of the human race. That's where the conspiracy part comes in.

Yes, no worth-its-salt thriller would be much without a conspiracy, and this one's a doozy. It turns out, because of the potential for such a formula to be uncovered, mathematicians are deemed to be among the most powerful and dangerous people on the planet, and therefore the US government spies upon all the most prominent and promising figures in the field.

The NSA (National Security Agency) has cameras in their offices, their homes, anywhere to make sure they aren't doing some super deadly equations which could end the world.

When shadowy forces catch on to what Edward is doing, different heavily-armed factions come for him, with some hoping to keep the formula from ever being developed, and others hoping to utilise it themselves.

It's patently ridiculous.

Now, you might be thinking, 'That sounds like a lot of fun.' Unfortunately, you'd be wrong. Prime Target is not a lot of fun, because it doesn't seem all that interested in the concept of having fun.

Instead, it takes its premise, and itself throughout, deadly seriously, with nary a smile, a wry joke or a knowing wink to the audience in sight.

The series comes from writer/creator Steve Thompson, a former maths student and teacher himself, who was behind a number of Doctor Who and Sherlock episodes, including the best instalment of the latter series, The Reichenbach Fall.

That episode featured some pretty silly sequences, including Moriarty performing a triple break-in at once and then managing to threaten an entire jury to acquit him.

It definitely strains credulity, but it doesn't matter, because the whole series has a glint in its eye and jokes littered throughout, while Andrew Scott is so magnetic as Moriarty that the preposterous becomes hugely enjoyable.

Since then, it appears Thompson has lost his sense of humour and his sense of fun, because there's so little to laugh about in Prime Target that somehow the absurd premise actually makes for quite a dull show.

It's a wonder whether another cast could have carried this off. Sadly, Woodall makes for a seriously wooden lead, with his Edward having what appears to be a purposeful dearth of charisma.

Films and TV shows love showing mathematicians as being difficult, unsocial people, and that is certainly the case here. Unfortunately, it's not even that he's so difficult, arrogant or spiky as to be interesting.

He's just a pretty dull individual, who somehow seems disinterested in all the high-stakes spy action going on around him. Once again, that could be quite funny - but, for some reason, it just isn't.

Quintessa Swindell plays Taylah Sanders, the NSA agent who first becomes aware of Edward's near breakthrough, and is perfectly capable as a spy/action hero. However, set against this premise, the character's sincerity again feels forced and frustrating.

One of the only cast members who seems to know what show he should be in is Harry Lloyd, who plays NSA bigwig Andrew Carter. With a gleefully sinister line delivery and a glint in his eye, if only the character was given more to do he could be an interesting addition.

Meanwhile, Fra Fee at least gets a few laughs and has a smiley demeanour as a bartender Edward starts seeing, while David Morrissey brings some mysterious charm to proceedings as another mathematician and Edward's supervisor.

It's interesting to imagine another version of this show, one where the premise is the same but people point out the absurdity of the situation, the performances are heightened and more knowing, and some life is injected into proceedings.

It might not get around the fact that the thriller elements are a bit dull and obvious, or the concept is bewildering, but at least the show would be entertaining, and you would feel like you were being brought along for the ride by people who knew what they were making.

In explaining the premise of the show to a friend, they remarked that it sounded like David Mitchell and Robert Webb's The Numberwang Code, as seen in sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Look.

In truth, it kind of does. Maths in film and TV can be high stakes - look at Hidden Figures or A Beautiful Mind - but there's no real way to make it high octane. So, if you're going to try, why not be aware that what you're doing is, by its nature, quite funny?

Of course, this is all a moot point. We're stuck with the show we've got, and for some, maybe the gun fights, the running and the aggressive whiteboard calculating will be entertaining enough.

But for others, Prime Target may be one to skip, an unfortunate misstep from Apple TV+ which has otherwise been on a roll of late.

The show seems to ask the question, 'What do you get if you add a baffling storyline, incredibly sincere and self-serious performances, and by-the-numbers action?' Sadly, the answer's not worth calculating.

Prime Target debuts on Apple TV+ on Wednesday 22nd January 2025.

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