User reviews

Formulaic plot, lots of villains in warehouses, sad cop, predictable dialog, set in scenic British town. Been there seen that so many times over so many years.

John Simm is usually brilliant but Russell Lewis hasn't given him much to work with here. He doesn't have much depth and speaks in cliches. The romantic scenes are mostly soap opera cringe.

Most reviewers won't mention him, but I always love seeing Craig Parkinson in a cop role. He plays it so cool and confident with his Blackpool jargon. He adds a little extra to otherwise uninspiring performances from the main cast members.

Just watched the last ever episode of Endeavor and of course it's unfair to compare Grace to the epic Morse tales. But if this is your genre, the show is a decent snack until something more substantial comes along.

We quite liked this show for its somewhat unique & gruesome plots. But I am quite tired of the head honcho coming down on the cop who bends the rules a bit, but produces great results. It has become a tope that is increasingly tiresome in this (our favourite) genre.

First of all I haven't read the books. I enjoyed theses 2 episodes and went to look for more only to find there's only 2. I want more, and I understand they have more to come for season 2. Good news!

I found the plots to be really different than most of what we get here in the states. More cleverly plotted and definitely well acted. They kept me interested throughout and never bored me. A few times I did talk to my tv screen wanting some poor actor to do something different, but by and large I found the whole thing to be quite enjoyable. FYI each episode stands alone and do not connect although the mystery of the main character's wife being missing continues on to the next episode as does the main character's superior's animosity towards him. Recommended!

With Endeavour ending, and only Vera in the arsenal for grown up Sunday night drama, ITV may just have found their new long standing hit.

The books are amazing, I truly recommend you reading them if you like a good mystery, and although John Simm isn't perhaps the character from the book that I had in my mind, but he makes it work, he is a tremendous actor.

Superb production values, it's very slick, and well made.

Credit to the team for getting it made during the Pandemic, and for making it to such a high standard.

Itv have given us a few flops in recent times, this one however, is a winner. More please. 8/10.

This is an edgier crime series from the novels of crime writer Peter James adapted for the screen by Russell Lewis. Lewis has written for Morse, Spooks, Lewis and of course Endeavour so he knows crime dramas.

Set in Brighton on the south coast it's about Roy Grace a Detective Superintendent who's good at solving murders. Only two episodes released for 2021 both 90 minute length and it looks like 2022 will also be two episodes. John Simm and the rest of the cast are very good, good plots and development.

Not a Colin Dexter or Ann Cleeves series, but it's very good, I look forward to season 2.

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I like everything about this series except Assistant Chief Constable Vosper. The boss who is too stupid and dull to recognize the talent s/he has working for her has been way overdone. IT'S BORRRRING!!! Write her out of the show and concentrate on the detective work, not the idiot boss. Richie Campbell, Craig Parkinson, Laura Elphinstone all lend dimension to the show. Develop their characters more. That would be much more interesting than Ayola's shrewish performance as a boss whose only motivation seems to be meanness and moronic behavior. John Simm is always good. He doesn't disappoint here. The stories are also original.

I live in Brighton. Disclosure. Many critics don't like that the series shows Brighton as more than the sunny day trip, art house scene and stag do glamour, but I love it's portrayal of a city that has a seedy underbelly. Graham Greene said it looked like a town that was helping the police with its enquiries. And John Simm and Richie Campbell are here to take notes. Both are very engaging, and the narrative is more thoughtful than many of its rivals. Their dynamic is great, and the support cast robust. There is a glory hunting fast track superior for panto villain status, and a commendable balance of reality and sentiment. Simm is very likeable and thorough as the cop with a conscience. Well paced and consistent. An enjoyable two hours tv.

Having read the novel by Peter James this episode is way off the mark in so many details. There's no suspense, no feeling of urgency to find the missing groom. Would have been better served to be a mini series instead of one episode. Really rather poor adaptation. Do not recommend watching it.

I came across this almost by accident and watched both season 1 episodes in one sitting. There were are a few of the usual stereotypes, but overall it was quite good, and kept my attention throughout. Well paced and well acted. It's possible to make a serious, enjoyable drama without graphic sex scenes and constant unnecessary cussing (although I know there are some viewers who need those elements to make something "edgy" and "real"). I'd be happy to watch season 2 when it comes out.

Like one reviewer said, sad detective with stupid boss who couldn't find her own ass in a line-up, and enough holes to keep me yelling suggestions at the screen!! If I didn't have the remote to just skip the drivel I'd have given up. That being said ... it has potential. Hire some people to clean up the storyline, ie, check phone records! Keep any eye on suspects. Just simple stuff that even we peons know good cops do. On the good side, we really liked John Simm & Richie Campbell. We'll watch the next part hoping for more of them, better writing and another boss!

Having read all of the Roy Grace novels by Peter James I was curious to see if this would come close. I wasn't disappointed. Brilliant performance by John Simm who nailed the character of Grace as well as the rest of cast who did the book justice. Hoping ITV will film all the books.

This is a largely dull and frequently quite boring police drama. It has nothing to draw viewers in beyond the main story; while there are efforts to develop 'back stories' for some of the characters, they're weak and uninteresting. The lead character, Roy Grace, has all the charisma of a rice pudding, while being beset with the usual luggage from his past which seems to pervade all television drama nowadays. There are plenty of nods to modern policing and general behaviour, as opposed to the actions of misogynistic nasty guys of days gone by and, frankly it's not even very well done. The production is jerky and the script pretty basic; it's the type of drama which can be turned out with very little effort and isn't even average. 3 out of 10 is the best I can give it.

John Simm is always worth watching even in something like this, it's pretty much the ITV formulaic Cop show and I did not expect too much more from it but, it just never rises above average really. One review complained about it being PC because there are black people and women in positions of power, to that reviewer I say, grow up, and accept the wonderfully diverse world we should be embracing and promoting instead of whining and being small minded (or worse) about the fact the world isn't all about white men. Two things that brought this show down were the ludicrous need to have a "medium" involved, what rational human being would have something so clearly absurd as a part of the storyline, and the poor writing in making the cliched boss standing in the way of the 'great detective', it's such a boring, overused, and hackneyed, part of the storyline.

I'm a huge Peter James fan, by and large I'm enjoying all the episodes but why have the makers chosen to rename everyone except the police force, change the ethnicity of characters and the nationality of others? Having read most of the books and seen some of them as live theatre this makes me quite cross. I find it detracts from my viewing because it's not true to the stories and therefore they're not how I've imagined them. Hopefully if other Peter James fans complain about this they might actually stick with the characters as Peter wrote them!

Having got my moans or if the way I'm looking forward to future episodes.

Broody cop with a troubled past is a well trodden path, there are many successful versions of this trope. Sadly, this is not one of them.

Sims' character is too much broody and not enough cop. There is insufficient plot to fill one-and-a-half hours, the first two cases are weak, unbelievable and bedevilled by magic plot jumps despite the available runtime. The common procedural weakness of earnestly delivered round-robin expository dialogue is abundant here and the casting policy seems to have been ideology over ability.

I want to love this, it would be better at 60 minutes with tighter writing, but as it stands it is poor.

Update: Season two, though not great, is significantly better than season one - upgraded from 3* to 5.

A well done crime drama. Good casting, story lines, and very enjoyable to watch.

The core elements of this were excellent ... the main characters were good and the acting excellent but the trope of the hero being in constant conflict with the boss is dreary and unoriginal and added absolutely nothing to the plot.

The potential to be the next Vera or Morse is there but at the moment it is a case of could have been.

The plot in this one was ok but the twist was obvious from the moment I saw the villain for the first time.

Maybe I have seen too many TV thrillers?

BUT I will watch the next episode to see if the rough edges in this first episode are sorted out.

I think it's safe to say that the overwhelming majority of the 10/10s here are from people who have a vested interest in this underwhelming series. Must be.

I get that it is a grey, gloomy story about a grey, gloomy detective, but surely the Brighton location offered some opportunity to inject some of the colour and seediness we've seen in series like "Blackpool" and "Funland" . . . Two great series that illustrate how far UK TV has fallen.

John Simm has been in some excellent shows, but also some real turkeys - "Tuesday" immediately comes to mind.

And importing the Caddy from "Line of Duty" has to be an in-joke, surely?

Honestly there are a lot of crime dramas these days, but this is one of the best... gripping and superbly done