User reviews

This is an excellent series. Great acting from the leads; superbly cast.

Definitely a binge set, you won't be able to push the pause button.

All the settings are very authentic looking and time adjusted extremely well.

Shaun Evans just continues to improve in his acting ability (Male lead). In this series he is unbelievably good. At times, the hairs on the back of your neck will stand up and shiver.

Anna Maxwell Martin continues to impress immensely (Female lead). She is incredibly convincing in her role.

I'm certainly not going to add any spoilers, I think that is the worse thing you can do, especially if the series or movie is a good one. If you want to find out what happens, watch it.

Tremendous! Thoroughly recommended 8/10.

Frustrating because you are following the life of a very odd ball woman.

Good because it's a British drama and production - not a gun or car chase in the 4 episodes.

I can't reveal the ending.

I can say that it touched a nerve about relationships with women...even when they are not as affected as Delia in her horrendous ordeal. Never, ever forget that women live on their emotions and men on their testosterone. Did I say I found it frustrating for that reason, but also because of the behaviour of the police and the law. It really is the case that the law is an ass. We see it time and again and it is the situation in this case.

Good luck dealing with the law, and with women.

What a great show - well, the first two episodes were most riveting edge of the seat stuff (Steve Edge from The Madame Le Blanc Mysteries does appear in a couple of episodes).

Real life stories are difficult to make into a dra. A but this was done well even shoeing the warts and all frailties of thd leading lady but the viewer is left to wonder whether this would have been made if the roles had been reversed and the woman had been the control freak in the relationship.

Shaun Evans does a great job as the narcissist, looking very different from Endeavour and sounds very different too putting on his natural scouse accent here.

Anne Maxwell Martin plays a great leading role too plus great to see Kevin Doyle in later episodes.

Such a shame it has been shown abroad before the UK though.

This short series left me speechless, just blew me away! Not only because of the great actors and performance but also because of how well the story is told, realistic, very strong and at times uncomfortable and frustrating. Once you start watching it you won't be able to stop it!

The first two episodes are the most intense and brutal. The actress Anna Maxwell, in the role of Delia, is simply magnificent! She acts with great strength, power and realism, I can't imagine anyone better, it is simply perfection!

The series reflects on the protection systems that are established around victims of abuse, and she holds responsible those who should contribute to guaranteeing their safety.

The plot is very well structured, marking each of the episodes as outstanding stages in the development of events, and they look very deep into personal obsessions.

Don't miss this one! It is an extremely solid British true crime production that will get under your skin thanks to the excellent performances.

One of those shows where you hover between "Surely it couldn't have happened like that!" and "How on earth can people be so incompetent?" It's a true story, though, and from what we know of other cases, the failings of the police and the demands of the criminal justice system damage far too many victims - which was Delia case.

Anne Maxwell Martin plays Delia with an extraordinary intensity, rarely making it easy to like her: she is irrascible, mercurial and unpredictable.

Shaun Evans is truly scary, switching from the quiet and self-effacing shy man Deliameets in a pub, to a furious and violent narcissist with a dark, dark past.

A very well-written, cleverly-paced and carefully directed short series.

I dipped my reluctant toe in, thinking that, despite the content, this would be a poorly delivered presentation of a female's time of horrors.

So many of these programmes can turn to sentimentality or sensationalism and can make a viewer miss the point or worst still, be manipulated into anguished responses.

I was wrong, the performance from Anna Maxwell-Martin was so good, that it felt like listening to Delia. It is Delia, who kept me watching, it is Delia, who made this an exceptional programme.

Delia was hard work, even before the troubles, her intransigence in the face of what I guess she considered petty rules and conventions, does not endear her to others.

As an aside, I will add a further two comments.

The sheer frustration of watching, yet again, the keystone cops, metaphorically fumbling around in an unlit room, simply because they could not be bothered to switch the light on, was palpable.

The anger one felt at the judicial system that allows clearly vulnerable victims to be pilloried in the witness box was at a peak.

Enough said; I highly recommend the programme.

...and most of the time it's not possible. Because the ordeal is so intimate and profoundly unique to each and every being.

I cried during those four stellar episodes. I was in tears at the end. The victim must remain in her role as a victim until anger, rage and bitterness. The rules of the law rarely proceed with empathy.

Thank you @kindofblue-78221 for finding the right words, which my limited english abilities don't allow me to do.

Thank you for putting this essential story on screen and to Anna Maxwell Martin, for bringing such a strong and memorable character to life. Your acting talent is such a wonderful gift to us all.

The actual events are truly horrific as are the injustices of the legal system. However, the actual drama itself is somewhat a mixed bag that is at times verging on the downright boring. What really annoyed me was the awful accent of Anna Maxwell-Martin normally a very capable actress with a voice that varies between bad Scottish and terrible Irish when she is supposed to be portraying an American. The series fails to provide any weight to the other victims Melissa and Paula. I don't know how faithful the series is to Delia Balmer but is appears to portray her as an extremely weird unsmpaphetic individual, even before here trauma and it could have been a bit more sympathetic. Acting is good but script could have been better.

Not only is this a compelling, uncomfortable drama, one almost unique in not seeking to exploit misogynistic violence for kicks, but also an indictment of a judicial system where everyone involved is clearly compromised by seeing the victim as a means to their end career-wise. The police want a conviction and the criminal is the target and the victim is merely the enabling ammunition to achieve this; a passive cipher best forgotten afterwards unless they become useful again.

The viewer is also forced to confront their expectations of a true-crime victim. Typically these are vulnerable and quite passive individuals lacking confidence and not infrequently conventionally attractive as film and television producers seek to manipulate empathy from their audiences by all means at their disposal. Delia Balmer/Anna Maxwell Martin does not bow to this convention and the syrup-free drama is all the better for presenting a victim in the round.

Top notch performances from everyone involved, made for uncomfortable viewing at times, but also gripping television. I often wince at real life dramas because they sweeten things for one side or the other. In this case you felt they gave a fair representation of both sides. I don't remember the original story so it felt quite fresh for me.

We binged the programme, and never intended to, so that says something. The fact it felt so underwhelming made it even more believable and the pacing as we moved through the key components of the story maintained the tension, I would recommend this as a quality piece of TV.

I'm not usually a big fan of these TV four-part dramas that seem to be in vogue at present as they often veer into the absurd but decided to give this a go as it was based on true events and was most certainly not disappointed. Anna Maxwell Martin's performance as the key character was exceptional and even though she was the 'victim' she came across as an extremely difficult person to like and didn't do much to help herself. Overall, it was a bit clunky, had to cover a long time period and some of the other acting of the minor characters was a tad wooden but it did not spoil my enjoyment. It'll be interesting to watch the documentary with the real Delia Balmer to see if she comes across as prickly and abrasive as portrayed in the dramatisation - which she was even before her ordeal. I thought it was excellent TV and despite my negative opinion of Balmer, Sweeney is the unequivocal monster here.

This is an extremely disturbing but superbly produced drama series that portrays the slippery but deeply manipulative side of an horrific serial killer. But it is much much more than that. It also portrays the shocking failures and misogyny of a mainly white male police force that treated not just women in general with contempt, but their very own female police personnel.

As someone who has suffered from extensive and very damaging childhood emotional neglect, abuse and PTSD, and having a lifetime of expertise with same, I was taken aback by the superlative performance from Anna Maxwell Martin whose trauma must be extremely painful for people to watch. This is HOW you act. The subtle but highly intelligent innuendo to her earlier life - quite probably the character's own childhood emotional neglect, adding to her later horrific trauma at the hands of a serial killer - is one of many accolades that can be made for the brilliant director of this drama series.

Outside of Maxwell Martin, the acting in this drama series is of a high standard and everyone should be proud of their performances. The script writers too deserve nothing but praise.

I would warn those yet to watch this superb but equally disturbing and distressing drama series to take care as your emotions will be tested and I am sure many will shed tears throughout.

Thank You sincerely to all in the making of this superior drama series.

Truly awful - two fabulous fabulous lead actors..... and any endeavour fans have truly waited some time to see Shaun Evan's .... The story itself captivates an audience as true crime is always a fascinating watch - as it proves any single person can come to such harm from another human... but, but, but, the acting was atrocious and unbearable - after five attempts I managed to get half way through episode two ... for me - and I really don't want to sound disrespectful - but the actual character of Delia is quite strange ... it's weird and quite unlikable ... and don't get me started on the awful wigs ... all in all from dialect to costumes - dreadful dreadful dreadful.

This excellent drama is based on the true, horrific story of Delia Balmer. Unlike a lot of these true life dramas, there is no sugar coating on the events or the characters, or some dynamic hero wading in to save the day. Instead we have Delia who, to be honest is not a particularly likeable lady. She can be abrasive, rude, quick to snap and hurl insults- and that's before she meets John Sweeney. However, Delia's ordeal is so incredibly tragic, I was reduced to tears many times and overcome with anger and disgust at the attitude of the police and judicial system.

Anna Maxwell Martin deserves to win awards for her stellar performance. She was just WOW. This programme is not for the faint hearted, but it is well worth watching. I sincerely hope lessons have been learnt by the police and judicial system, and that victims are not treated like liars and criminals.

Mainly due to Anna Maxwell Martin's performance. At long last she has a role that showcases her inestimable talents

Shaun Evans brings all the cringe to a role that I'm sure disturbed him as an actor deeply. He has been one of my all time faves since his brilliant turn as a young Inspector Morse. It's hard to see him play such a darkly disturbed soul but that's when you know you're watching someone with such star power - you can't take your eyes off of him.

Ann's acting skills are just off the charts of depth of emotions, running the gamut from uncomfortable humor to deep deep pain.

Please let them win ALL of the awards.

Well done to the crew behind the camera for bringing by this very difficult and dark story into the light Well done ALL.

OMG...it is still going on.....people seem more disturbed by Delia's "abrasive" attitude, than the fact that a bloke thought it was ok to hack and dismember his girlfriends and attempt to axe/stab Delia to death. What is wrong with you ll...do you actually hear yourselves...MORONS!!! I can't believe some of the asinine, narrow-minded and shameful comments left by some reviewers. We still have a long way to go when a women who doesn't present as a simpering "victim" but uses her anger to keep herself together ....presumably the moronic comments made by some reviewers did not pick up on that assessment by the forensic psychiatrist - is judged for her attitude. What pathetic, ignorant attitudes some of these reviewers express, quite disgusting nd obviously have not learned or observed anything from this drama. I only hope Delia Balmer doesn't read any of them but I think and she is leading a better life and is certainly strong enough to dismiss such petty-minded comments.

I could only watch this because I knew that she survived, if survived is the word, her ordeal. At the end of the first episode I was so depressed that I was unsure whether I could watch the rest of it. I was persuaded to do so because I knew that justice would be done eventually. I cannot imagine what it must be like to be trapped, literally trapped, in a relationship like this. And the horror is made worse by the limitations of the law and its agents when it comes to protecting the innocent party. And at the end of it all, one is left asking the question what life experiences made Sweeney grow into the man he is?

Anna Maxwell Martin stars as real-life abuse victim Delia Balmer in Until I Kill You, a four part miniseries. Her abuser, Sweeney, is played by Endeavour star Shaun Evans.

Balmer is a bizarre woman, not very likable, who takes up with Sweeney, only to be abused by him until he nearly kills her. Her anger at the police for not helping her, her physical pain, her fear, her bitterness, her PTSD cause her to lash out at everyone. She feels as if she is already dead, and when the police ask for her help putting Sweeney away, she initially refuses. She relents, but then, faced with more injustice, she's sorry.

In spite of Balmer being such a difficult character, your sympathies are with her and the adjudication of Sweeney's various cases.

Very compelling story and a great lesson to always be vigilant and not too trusting. Such sad reminders of how we're forced to live in the world.