As with most television dramas, there are aspects of the plot line of the BBC’s McMafia series that stretch the bounds of credulity. The notion that a public school-educated wimp like Alex Godman (played by the underwhelming James Norton) could find himself caught up in a network of villains comprising Russian oligarchs, Indian drug-dealers and Israeli money-launderers all seems a bit far-fetched. Real-life oligarchs associated with Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin, surely, are more preoccupied with maintaining their interests in Russia than breaking into new markets such as the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.

But then, to judge by the grave warnings issued by Ben Wallace, the Security Minister, we do need to pay far closer attention to the antics of Russian oligarchs – and no doubt we will be after the apparent poisoning of an alleged former spy in Salisbury.

Mr Wallace knows a thing or two about the threat Russia poses to our security from the time he spent serving as a Scots Guards officer in Germany. And he wants to crack down on the wilder excesses of oligarchs who operate in the UK.

In what officials are calling a “full spectrum” attack on those suspected of corruption or links to organised crime, Mr Wallace intends to use orders to seize their assets. This could have a serious impact on the capital’s property market given that, in recent years, an estimated one in 10 homes in prime central London have been bought by Russians.