CIA OPERATIONS officer Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts), whose status as a covert agent is unknown to almost her entire circle of family and friends, is caught in the crossfire when her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson (Sean Penn), writes a scathing opinion piece for The New York Times about the Bush administration and invading Iraq.

A subsequent article in The Washington Post exposes Valerie and she is shunned by colleagues including Jack McAllister (Michael Kelly). In order to protect her reputation, Valerie must attack the government she vowed to honour and protect.

Adapted from Valerie and Joe’s memoirs, Fair Game is a dialogue-heavy thriller that relives this fraught period when Plame became a focal point for the anger and confusion of a nation struggling to understand the decision to invade Iraq. Watts and Penn deliver riveting, impassioned performances, laying bare the rage and disappointment that slowly threatens to tear their marriage apart.

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Lead Balloon – Series 4 (15)

MISANTHROPIC comedian Rick Spleen (Jack Dee) careens from one disaster to the next in six more episodes of the BBC Four comedy written by Dee and Pete Sinclair. Rick is humiliated on live TV and a visit to a prison turns sour when he is held hostage in the library by a prisoner (Robbie Coltrane) with a pathological hatred of liars. It doesn’t bode well for Rick.

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Ironclad (15)

AFTER the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215, King John (Paul Giamatti) enlists the services of Danish mercenaries to kill the noblemen who defied him, thereby seizing back the throne.

At the behest of Archbishop Langton (Charles Dance), baron William de Albany (Brian Cox) spearheads the rebels at Rochester Castle, flanked by plucky archer Marks (Mackenzie Crook) and templar knights Marshall (James Purefoy) and Beckett (Jason Flemyng). As the King and his Danish marauders prepare to storm the battlements, the castle’s keeper Reginald de Cornhill and his beautiful ward, Lady Isabel prepare for the worst. Ironclad recreates a little-known and exceedingly violent chapter in 13th century British history. Jonathan English’s gritty period piece doesn’t skimp on the gore, having plenty of brawn but apparently few brains. Characters are narrowly defined, casting King John as the bad guy and the rebel noblemen as the valiant heroes.

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