By Will Barber Taylor

Lady Alex heads to Egypt, where she teams up with Hooten to find the long-lost tomb of Alexander the Great. When Hooten goes rogue with a priceless stolen medallion, he finds an angry archaeologist, some unscrupulous locals and a vicious cult on his tail. As well as Lady Alex…

Like the previous two episodes of Hooten and the Lady, the third episode starts with a bang. A rather literal bang, as Hooten (Michael Landes) attempts to blow his way into the tomb of Alexander the Great. Having now established the relationship between Lady Alex and Hooten, that Lady Alex gives jobs to Hooten that require some more “risky” work. This of course is a great comic device – whilst Lady Alex attempts to get her hands on valuable historical artefacts through legitimate means, Hooten goes for the more direct – and somewhat risky – method. His attempts to get to the tomb of Alexander and the “billions” worth of riches inside first is the crux of the episode. Pinned onto this is are Hooten’s attempts to affect a relationship with Melina (Angel Coulby). This also helps build comedic tension between Hooten and Lady Alex.

Equally well done is the cinematography; the panoramic views of Egypt are beautifully shot and there is clear effort to give the episode a cinematic feel. Tied in with this are the use of effect throughout the episode; the sequences involving Hooten’s attempt to enter the tomb of Alexander early on are extremely well choreographed with it looking as if Hooten is actually being shot at.

As always the main cast is great with Opehlia Lovibond’s Lady Alex particularly standing out in this episode. Her reaction to Hooten’s hiding place of an occupied cacophonous is perfectly timed to elicit the right comedic reaction from the audience. Similarly, Angel Coubly’s Melina is well served in the episode and has some great moments including her attempt to get information from Hooten via the threat of torture, balancing the line between threatening and funny perfectly.

In conclusion, the third episode of Hooten and the Lady perfectly follows on from the previous two by keeping the mischievous mixture of drama and comedy balanced in such a way to make it one of the most watchable shows on television at the moment.