MAN VERSUS MYTH (ARCHIE)

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Say the name Cary Grant and you will probably think of one of the following words - English, star, handsome, suave and witty.

Grant was a massive movie star in his day and still is.

In an American Film Institute Poll of the Greatest Male Movie Stars, he ranked second, finishing only behind Humphrey Bogart.

He also had a modest upbringing - something Jeff Pope's four part ITVx and Britbox miniseries 'Archie' concentrates on in the show's early episodes.

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Jason Isaacs plays Grant at the height of his fame.

But while the show is interested in his humble roots in Bristol, it also focuses on the impact his turbulent upbringing on his relationship in later life with the actress Dyan Cannon.

Flitting between recollections on his life at a stage show in Illinois and scenes recreating episodes from it, we see his childhood as Archie Leach in Bristol.

Dainton Anderson's young Archie and his brother, Ben Shorrock's John live in poverty with their mother, Kara Tointon's Elsie and their cavalier father Henry Lloyd-Hughes' Elias.

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The boys go to school but Archie is often ridiculed by other kids for the state of his uniform and is bullied.

Both brothers return home one day after playing together with John sustaining a cut.

Elias dismisses it as nothing and insists his son doesn't need to see a doctor.

However John's wound becomes infected and when he passes away, it plunges Elsie into a deep depression.

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Involved with another woman, Elias commits his wife into a psychiatric hospital and arranges for Archie to live with his grandmother.

Later he tells Archie his mother has died - a lie which his son will discover is false after he becomes famous.

A visit to the theatre in his teens to see a circus run by Ian Puleston-Davies' Pender instils a love of performance in Archie.

Approaching Pender after the show, Oaklee Pendergast's teenage Archie says he would do anything to perform in his circus.

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Told he must secure his absent father's permission to join, Archie pretends to write a letter from his dad and becomes a stilt walker, only for Elias to turn up at a rehearsal.

For a fee, Pender talks Elias into giving him his permission to allow Archie join the troupe which heads to New York.

There they enjoy success, playing to packed houses.

Archie loses his virginity and also decides to quit the troupe, with Pender's blessing, to pursue an acting career.

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Now in his early twenties, Calum Lynch's Archie struggles to find work on Broadway because of his thick Bristol accent.

A chance meeting with Christian Lees' George Burns during an audition leads to the comedian recommending him for an audition for a play starring Teddy Thomas' 'King Kong' star Fay Wray.

Changing his accent to something more clipped, English and uppercrust, the play's a hit and so is he.

This opens doors to Hollywood where he initially pitches to be an extra until Lolly Jones' Mae West spots him on the studio lot and has him cast as the lead in her 1933 film 'She Done Him Wrong'.

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A big hit, it propels his movie career turning him into a major star.

His name, however, is changed from Archie Leach to Cary Grant.

Pope's drama focuses on the dichotomy between Archie the man from humble English roots and the suave persona of Cary Grant in the latter stages of his career.

Still a major Hollywood star with three divorces under his belt, Jason Isaacs' Grant doggedly pursues women and wants a life without children in LA.

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Spotting Laura Aikman's rising star Dyan Cannon on TV, he has his agent arrange for her to come round to his house for lunch under the pretence that he wants to discuss a movie project with her.

When she arrives, Cary is as charming and quirky as his screen persona and she is giddy in his presence.

Afterwards he continues to pursue her, always behaving like a perfect gentleman and even taking her to a dinner party thrown by Ian McNeice's Alfred Hitchcock and his wife, Niamh Cusack's wife Alma who is antagonistic towards her.

Relentless in his pursuit of Dyan, Cary eventually persuades her to marry him.

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However as the relationship progresses, she becomes increasingly concerned that they do not share the same expectations or desires.

The revelation that his mother is alive and his efforts to bring her back adds an additional layer of complication to the marriage, with Harriet Walter's needy Elsie proving difficult to handle after he moved her out of the asylum she has lived in.

At the beginning of each episode, Pope admits some characters have been created for dramatic purposes but the bulk of the drama is based on actual interviews and thorough research.

This is not surprising but it should be noted that a lot of the miniseries is based on the accounts of Grant's life by daughter Jennifer and Dyan Cannon who are executive producers.

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Inevitably this means the drama is very much Dyan's take on her at times fractious relationship with Grant who is portrayed as being sometimes petty, jealous, overbearing and stuffy.

That's not to say it ignores his good points but it's pretty clear where the odds are stacked.

The ace card is Jason Isaacs who is a terrific actor and turns in the kind of impeccable performance you'd expect as Grant.

The problem with the miniseries, however, is Pope's script and Paul Andrew Williams' direction.

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'Archie' follows rather predictable ITV biographical drama beats.

Like 'Nolly,' it has an affectionate one name title.

It rather clunkily depicts a star towards the end of their career reflecting on their life - hopping, skipping and jumping through the highs and lows.

There's a melodramatic and frankly irritating musical score by Lindsay Wright that feels really intrusive.

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As it rattles through the ups and downs of his life, there are regular brief glimpses of other celebrities thrown in for the audience to chew on.

So in addition to Wray, West, Burns and Hitchcock, we are given moments with Lily Travers as Grace Kelly, David Keeling as Danny Kaye, Stella Stocker as Audrey Hepburn, Alexandra Guelff as Doris Day and Jamie Chapman as Stanley Donen.

However it feels as if Williams and Pope are simply ticking names off a to do list.

Exploring the disparity between the actor's gentleman persona and his working class Bristolian roots, there's no doubt the concept is a good one.

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However despite having four episodes to really dig deep, the show never feels like it gets under the skin of the complexities of Grant's relationships with his mother and father despite Isaacs' best efforts.

The miniseries' interest in the dichotomy of Cary Grant, the movie star and Archie Leach, the man feels unfulfilled.

McNeice, Cusack, Lees, Thomas, Jones and Jason Watkins as Grant's Hollywood agent Stanley Fox are fine, if unspectacular in their supporting roles.

With a bit more to sink their teeth into, Walter, Tointon, Lloyd-Hughes and Puleston-Davies fare a bit better.

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Aikman is sugar sweet as Cannon but is saddled with a role that increasingly consists of her looking let down by Grant's inadequacies.

'Archie' also struggles with ITV's lower budget production values - particularly in the New York and Hollywood sequences.

The most disappointing thing is the show's failure to properly get to grips with the complexities of a fascinating movie icon.

Four hour long episodes should be enough to get under his skin but 'Archie' barely pierces it.

('Archie' was made available for streaming on ITVx in the UK on November 23, 2023)