'Dirty Tricks' review

Oh, doctor, what a devious mind you have. Actually, Martin Clunes, star of "Doc Martin," doesn't play a physician in "Dirty Tricks," but he's a dedicated social climber who eventually will stop at very little to get ahead. At first, Edward (Clunes) seems an innocent dupe when the randy wife of an accountant comes on to him at a dinner party. An unshod lady's foot to the crotch is enough to pique this bookish tutor's libidinous interest. But it turns out the very loving wife is only interested in Edward when her seemingly oblivious husband is on the premises. Once he starts sliding down this slippery slope of amorality, Edward finds it easier and easier to set aside his sense of right and wrong, to the point of being complicit in a series of suspicious deaths. Clunes is a goofy delight and Julie Graham is equally engaging as the sex-starved Karen. Lindsay Duncan plays a wealthy widow who becomes another target of Edward's, um, tutorials. The series, which first aired in 2000 in Britain, is based on a book by Michael Dibdin and falls into the British category of black comedy. It may be a bit dry for some American viewers, but "Doc Martin" fans will appreciate seeing a different side of Clunes.

DIRTY TRICKS

2000

NOT RATED

ACORN MEDIA

$29.99

This article appeared on page Q - 24 of the San Francisco Chronicle