Operation Dark Phone: Murder By Text – this jaw-dropping tale of how police hacked gangs is like The Wire
Operation Dark Phone: Murder By Text (Sunday, 9pm, Channel 4) is a documentary-drama cleverly built around these messages, which appear like screenplay dialogue across scenes. It's an arresting insight into how criminal gangs work – and just as revealing, how they talk. 'Sweets' are bullets, while a 'pineapple' is a grenade. A violent British criminal known as Live-long, lying low in Spain, organises an acid attack on a rival, in between sending pictures of his breakfast. Cucumber slices on labneh with paprika – nice. The trick, he instructs, is to stop the victim getting to a sink. Hold them down a few minutes, so the acid can do its job. Less nice.
Incredibly, there is dark humour amid the grim. Mostly courtesy of the crims, who go by ridiculous two-word usernames on the anonymous network. There's a Chris Morris absurdity to Mystical-steak, Valued-bridge, Top-shag. At one point, an agent explains how Live-long interacted with Ball-sniffer (who one assumes is lower down). For their part, the agents and white hats are living out the most exciting series of The Wire. In a year, they would usually encounter fewer than a hundred explicit threats to life. Once the curtain was lifted, they intercepted more than 150 in six weeks. Logistically, that's a problem.
The show knows how to grab a viewer. Storylines develop, introduce formidable characters, and bring the action to a climax. Ace-prospect imports AKs and Glocks to the UK, one of which is bought by Live-long, who is looking to take on Ace-prospect in a personal revenge attack. Organised through go-betweens, neither side knows who they are dealing with. The NCA has a 24-hour delay when receiving message data, and must work round the clock to close the gap. When Ace-prospect's hitman throws a pineapple into the garden of a rival, which fails to explode, the feds are faced with a dilemma: how to protect the lives of children nearby while keeping their intelligence and mission a secret?
This is all far sexier than Crimewatch. Instead of losers sticking up BP garages, here are wealthy playas orchestrating crimes from overseas. Is it ethical? Is there a risk of making the criminals look cooler than their cucumbers? The glossy recreations showcase swimming pools, gym-fit bodies, weapons familiar from movies. The actor playing Live-long looks like Claes Bang, and spends the episode with his top off. Yet this is a morality tale. 'I'm gonna take his eyes out and chase him around every jail,' writes Live-long from a darkened room, his teeth-whitening gumshield glowing ultra-violet like a nightmare acid trip.
The empty glamour is not just the medium, it's the message. These criminals' downfall is their superficiality, their constant messaging and oversharing, their boasting and social media-amplified physical vanity. Live-long's true identity is eventually uncovered because he sends a triumphant selfie. Can you imagine an old-school career criminal hearing that? I picture them slapping their forehead; except they've forgotten to unclench their fist and knock themselves out.
The show's charge comes from knowing this is real, not merely dramatic writing. Part of that charge is fear – a reminder that there are sociopaths among us who hold life cheap and take joy in violence. Operation Dark Phone is a four-part series, from the makers of 24 Hours in Police Custody, and promises far more jaw-dropping revelations as well as some overdue justice. Don't watch it if your faith in humanity is wavering. I'll probably be giving pineapples in the supermarket a wide berth too, just in case.
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