Alex Rider’s life is turned upside down by the death of his uncle Ian. But as he digs a little deeper into all the details that don’t make sense, nothing can prepare him for what he uncovers.

How does one approach adapting one of the most popular young adult book franchises for the screen, especially in a world absolutely chock full of YA adaptations and spy-based dramas? The answer, if Alex Rider’s opening episode is anything to go by, is with an awful lot of confidence.

For non-readers of the series like myself, it mostly avoids the pitfalls of last year’s hopelessly insular His Dark Materials adaptation by the BBC by being as open as possible, while still not talking down to or patronising the audience in ways that might turn established fans of the franchise off. It also absolutely does not compromise in terms of tone – make no mistake, this absolutely isn’t just ‘James Bond for kids’. And as outlandish as its central premise might seem, it plays it absolutely straight-facedly and carries it off very well.

It helps that Otto Farrant is a relative newcomer to this sort of central starring role, blending natural talent with a sort of rawness that only lends to the feeling of verisimilitude for the character. He might know Krav Maga and go on adventure-seeking holidays with his uncle, but he’s still just a teenage boy who’s awkward around girls and prone to getting into mundane bits of trouble at school. When he starts to dig into exactly what happened to his uncle, and starts to uncover a part of the truth, he rushes in just like you’d expect someone full of the hotheaded energy of youth to do. When he actually see the whole picture, he’s a nice balance of determination and fear.

Also helping immensely is best friend Tom, played by Brenock O’Connor. The onscreen chemistry between the two is every bit as authentic as the genuine friendship that seemed to exist between them on set (read our set report here), and with Tom in the dark about Alex’s secret double life but absolutely his best friend in his everyday life, that’s a chemistry that’s essential to add to the drama.

And what drama it is – this is a show that doesn’t pull its punches, either in terms of the graphic nature of the perils faced in this line of work, nor the lengths to which some intelligence organisations will go to get what they want. Stephen Dillane’s Alan Blunt is a well-named character, being no-nonsense and utterly ruthless. He’s counterpointed by Vicky McClure’s Miss Jones, an agent working with Blunt who doesn’t approve of his methods or the fact of his wanting to use Alex to get to the bottom of the mystery his uncle was investigating when he died.

Perhaps the biggest surprise about the whole thing though, comes back to that specific choice of tone. Based on an elevator pitch of the premise, you might expect a boys-own adventure full of fun and frolics for our teenaged protagonist. What we get instead is something which makes no bones from the outset that this isn’t fun or right, and that Alex is very much going to be looking to survive his time with MI6 rather than enjoying it.

It’s less ‘Secret Agent happens to be at school’ and more ‘Schoolboy is unwillingly dragged into the spy life’. The fact that it manages to effortlessly blend relatable teenage hi jinks with deadly serious spy drama is nothing short of magical.

Verdict: Surprisingly mature in themes and tone and presenting a very interesting take on its core premise. 8/10

Greg D. Smith

Alex Rider premieres on Amazon Prime Video on June 4th.