london-spy-bbc-america-ben-whishaw

Ben Wishaw (Q from the new James Bond films) stars in "London Spy," about a young man who discovers the love of his life had been leading a double life.

(Laurence Cendrowicz/BBC America)

According to the Universal Law of Indomitable British Actresses of a Certain Age, if Maggie Smith or Judi Dench or Charlotte Rampling puts you in your place, you stay there.

It is a testament to both the muscular writing and powerful performances in BBC America's new miniseries "London Spy" that Ben Whishaw, playing Danny, a lonely sybarite shaken by revelations that his missing lover Alex was leading a secret life, goes mano-a-mano with Rampling, who plays a chilly cipher who says she's Alex's mother.

Responding to Rampling's devastating monologue about just how little Danny meant to her son, Danny refuses, with a controlled ferocity, to surrender his love story. For good measure, he adds, "When he told me you were dead, he wasn't lying."

A moody Gothic romance cloaked (and daggered) in the guise of an espionage thriller (albeit an artsy, meditatively-paced one -- perhaps too meditative for some), "London Spy" opens with a meet-emo between Danny, a warehouse worker who lives for nights of clubbing, drugs and sex, and Alex (Edward Holcroft), a chaste genius who claims he's a banker. The two fall in love, and after a few blissful months, Alex disappears, and Danny discovers a not-so-chaste hidey-hole in Alex's apartment that raises questions about their relationship and the nature of Alex's work.

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This draws Danny into the world of global espionage, aided (it appears, at least) by his close friend Scottie (the always excellent Jim Broadbent, who worked with Whishaw in "Cloud Atlas"), a bureaucrat who, it turns out, was also a spy outed in an gay witch hunt decades before. Scottie's story is revealed slowly, and provides a heartbreaking contrast between the treatment of homosexuality over time.

You can get sucked in by the spycraft, but this is also a parable about queerness, and a fascinating character piece for Whishaw, as he musters all his resources to fight those who deny the love that Danny knew was true.

Grade: A

The five-part "London Spy" premieres Jan. 21 at 10 p.m. on BBC America.

Vicki Hyman may be reached at vhyman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @vickihy or like her on Facebook. Find NJ.com/Entertainment on Facebook, and check out TV Hangover, the podcast from Vicki Hyman and co-host Erin Medley on iTunes, Stitcher or listen here.