The far-right British group National Action wants to return to a white, monocultural Britain and is willing to make sacrifices for it: “Fight for what’s white”. When Labor MP Jo Cox, who spoke out strongly against Brexit, was murdered by an extreme right-wing loner in 2016, National Action seized the opportunity to further disrupt the country. A new victim comes into the crosshairs of National Action, the Jewish Member of Parliament Rosie Cooper, in order to “start the race war”.
The dividing line between neo-Nazi and extreme right-wing ideas is thin and the danger of escalation is always close by. That is the message of the British drama series The Walk In. Based on true events, the series tells the story of Robbie Mullen finding camaraderie at National Action. He is the perfect recruit: young and lonely, and therefore easily influenced.
Through Robbie’s eyes, we see the terrifying consequences that hateful words can lead to. Robbie is dissatisfied with life. A colleague gives him an explanation: the large influx of asylum seekers. Out of interest, Robbie visits a National Action demonstration, after which he is immediately included in the group, after all, he is not yet known to the press and police. His new friends then immerse him even more in neo-Nazi ideas, making it impossible to escape.
Convincingly presented
Andrew Ellis plays the role of this lonely Robbie excellently. After the death of his father, he continues to decline. He isolates himself from his sister and is increasingly mentally absent from his work as a warehouse employee. However, thanks to his new comrades at National Action, he revives. Finally he belongs somewhere. But when things threaten to go from simple disturbances to serious acts of violence and even murder, things become too hot under his feet.
Robbie contacts Matthew Collins, a journalist who was also a member of a neo-Nazi group until he made a radical change years ago and left the group. Robbie finds an ally in Matthew. Someone who wants to be his friend when he betrays his National Action ‘friends’. Despite their similarities, Matthew is at the same time Robbie’s polar opposite. Matthew improved his life and is now an activist with the action group Hope not Hate, while Robbie firmly supports his far-right views: “Just because I wanted to stop the killing, doesn’t mean I agree with what is happening to this country!”
Matthew’s character is convincingly portrayed by Stephen Graham. By looking back at Matthew’s time with the extreme right-wing National Front and the atrocities he experienced there – for example, he was part of an attack on a library in which many older, foreign women became victims – you understand, on the one hand, his anger and his moral motivation to do this. to expose such groups. But at the same time it is incomprehensible that he leaves his wife Alison and their three sons to their fate. Why does he let those neo-Nazis influence his life so much? Although even his children are threatened, Matthew shows little understanding when Alison becomes frustrated when she has to go into hiding with the children for the umpteenth time because of the threat.
Horrible, good series
It’s a shame that the series only has five episodes. Some storylines would be stronger if a little more time had been taken. Take that of Matthew’s wife Alison. Although she plays an important role in the story, we hardly know anything about her.
However, the storylines of the main characters are very strong. And together with the relevant theme – after all, the extreme right is gaining a place in parliament in more and more European countries – this makes The Walk In into a very good series in which the danger of the extreme right in times of polarization and discontent is made eerily clear.