Smooth operator

Can Rebekah Staton's vengeful victim take down a con man played by Alistair Petrie in a darkly comic drama?

-  REBECCA MAHONEY JUDY EWENS, STEVEN PERKINS

NEW DRAMA The Following Events Are Based on a Pack of Lies

Tue, 9pm, BBC1 (box set, BBC iPlayer)

Fans of con-artist crime stories such as The Tinder Swindler and Inventing Anna won't want to miss this unconventional, twisty and darkly comic drama following the escapades of a charming fraudster, one of his victims, plus his next unsuspecting target.

The intriguingly titled five-parter follows people-pleasing personal assistant, mum and Madonna fan Alice Newman (Rebekah Staton), whose world is upended when she spots her dastardly ex-husband (Alistair Petrie) on the streets of Oxford.

He disappeared 15 years ago after conning her and her parents out of everything they owned. Now calling himself Dr Rob Chance, he's a lauded ecopreneur on a mission to save the world through his climate academy based at the University of Oxford.