Mrs Ambassador Strikes Again

 If there is one thing to be said about The Diplomat it is this: no one sees the plot twists coming. And how they come! Sneakily, speedily and as if written by a bonkers person. By now the bare bones of the series are known: Kate Wyler (the incomparable Keri Russell) is a career spy who is suddenly made ambassador to the UK.

Her husband, Hal (Rufus Sewell), friend of powerful peo­ple, is the one who was tipped to be ambassador. Nevertheless, he accompanies her to London, where he offers all manner of unsolicited advice and action. We pick up with Kate after the vice president of the US has just become president (Allison Janney as Grace Penn), she is pitching to be Vice President, and her husband is just, well, underfoot.

There is also the very handsome Aidan Turner, shorn of his Poldark locks, spilling state secrets and exchanging passionate kisses with our heroine. Only she is too busy uncovering conspiracies and saving the world. There is a submarine with a nuclear weapon which is being steered towards Russia, or is it China? With her ability to float through rooms and have conversations with people who matter, Kate is able to hold down not one but two jobs even as her husband speaks when he shouldn’t and says what he shouldn’t. Those who love the symbolism of power will dig deep — should the swearing in be in the lobby and should it be renamed Hall of the Great Seal? Will the Bible from Hyatt do or should they use the Gutenberg version gifted by the British PM. By the end of the season, she is like Schrödinger’s cat, neither dead nor alive, but in play for Season Four.