Warning: this article contains minor spoilers for episode one of BBC One’s Rules Of The Game.

The first episode of BBC One’s Rules Of The Game opens up with a surprise death and police questioning but, almost as quickly as the drama unfolds, we’re thrown back into “the beginning”, as our protagonist Sam (played by Maxine Peake) states.

The “beginning” is the crucial context – and episode-long flashback – we need to help figure out the suspected murder. Most interestingly, though, we come to realise that Rules Of The Game’s first episode is crammed full of surface-level optics that, upon being scratched away, reveal a fraught history of trauma, deceit, abuse and power.

New HR director Maya’s (Sex Education’s Rakhee Thakrar) first day starts off with an affirmation video she hurriedly gets through in her car – which she switches off in favour of anti-anxiety pills – and continues with a (rather frosty) welcome from Sam, Fly Dynamic’s manager. The large, glass-panelled office is buzzy but not over-populated, hinting at the “unique family culture” Sam discusses with Maya.

The family-run company started as a market stall but now rivals JD Sports, Sam adds and proudly states that “most of us have been here since Owen and Gareth took over the business.” With plans to go public on the stock exchange, Sam admits to Maya that she didn’t think the company would “go global” when she joined at the young age of 16.

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