Beyondtheflame

I haven't watched a whole British fictional drama series for quite a while now. What have I been missing? Absolutely nothing if this series is anything to go by.

One of the many ludicrous aspects of this 'drama' was that it was filmed in Hungary but they tried and failed miserably to pretend it was set in the UK. Hope the actors and crew had a nice jolly though.

Knowing Jason Watkins real life back story I really hate to criticise him, but his acting in this production would have been marked ungraded in O Level drama. He was badly cast. Still it puts meals on the table.

The comical plot and Gangster family stretched the realms of realism until it snapped around Episode 2.

As in all modern day Police related dramas the DS naturally ticked all those 2020s ubiquitous boxes. I realise this isn't real life, but still.

I've given a generous 2 star rating as Claire Skinner really did give it her best despite the best efforts of the scriptwriter.

Lastly my last venture into Channel 5 was to watch The Good Ship Murder. Perhaps it's time I channel hopped a bit more vigorously?

I've tried to fall in love with this series again but sadly even with the return of Tom Chambers and introduction of Claudie Blakley (of Lark Rise to Candleford fame) there appears to be no saving it now.

The scripts and storylines have become embarrassingly poor and some of the characters feel like they have been shoehorned in from 2023 into 1950. This episode merely confirmed it. It would appear when they have run out of ideas let's make another almost identical episode with Flambeau.

I know it's only daytime escapism but at least try and make an effort and watch the early episodes to see how it was previously done.

Firstly Rowan Atkinson is one of Britain's greatest comic actors and Blackadder (Series 2 onwards) is in my top 3 of Britain's all-time greatest comedies.

Saying that how on earth has the concept to this series managed to get past the commissioning stage? It's puerile nonsense and I gave it 4 episodes before no more.

Little creative humour and utterly predictable and anyone above the age of 10 has probably seen it all before.

In real life Rowan Atkinson states he is not funny so I'm assuming this is his real life comedy? He's not short of a bob or two but even he has to pay the bills and Netflix are stupid enough to agree to pretty much anything if it has a famous name attached.

It won't ruin Atkinson's legacy in my view, not that he will care, but hopefully before his time is up he will show us once more the comedy genius he once was.

Inside No 9 did an episode of a very similar nature in 2015 entitled The Trial of Elizabeth Gadge made in pre Floydian days at the BBC.

I know this is mentioned numerous times (and for good reason) but one must question why the BBC bother with the pretence that this comedy(?) is set in 17th Century England? They build sets that are supposed to represent a hamlet of that period and then destroy all credibility and reality with its ubiquitous box ticking cast. You might as well have had motor vehicles and mobile phone masts in the scenes.

As for the episode itself another 21st Century pre-requisite seems to be foul language. It's not funny and merely confirms that the script writers have run out of ideas.

I despair of the BBC nowadays. Blackadder seems a dim and distant memory now.

I so enjoyed this quaint series when it first started. It was a secret pleasure that deserved a post teatime slot back then. But what the hell have they done with it over the last few series? It's now badly scripted, badly acted, badly cast more worried about box ticking than plot lines which seemed to have been formed by a child. It's worse crime now? It's so boring.

You would think with two top actors this might be worth watching, however the casting outside of these two is hopeless. It neither looks nor sounds like Notts Police and it's local community and the badly written script (written by Coleman's husband) mocks them further. The French scenes look as though they were dated circa 1950. A massive disappointment all round.

Perhaps this episode was made for the middle class intelligentsia to express their mental superiority. As a working class 'pleb' I thought it was absolute tripe. Might have been funny 400 years ago. Shame as I used to love this series.

Caught this on Talking Pictures TV the other day and thought it worth highlighting.

Having now read this is based on a novel I can see why this film is so well scripted and formulated. It moves along at just the right pace and you feel drawn in as part the investigative team headed by Jack Warner.

It is also a useful piece of social commentary showing Police techniques at that time. Also the views of Brighton and Lewes in the early 60s make an interesting backdrop to this provincial crime.

I would definitely recommend this film.

I am a fairly recent convert to Netflix and enjoy (if that's the right word) its true crime dramas and documentaries. I had read the synopsis to this series and knew it would be an uncomfortable watch. The 1st episode was powerful and superbly acted, in particular by Kaitlyn Dever (she deserves an award for her performance throughout). You can just feel her trauma, confusion and frustration. However, from this point forwards the series began to drift into a latter day version of Cagney & Lacey. On both sides of the pond in this post Weinstein age it has now become popular, nay expected, for nearly all white male characters of a certain vintage on TV or film to be categorised as detestable, unsympathetic and feeble. This series continued the theme. Why feel the need to alienate so much of your audience? I get it Weinstein was an unpleasant character. The series was then padded out through many episodes when this could have easily been reduced into 3 or 4 episodes, a common failing for Netflix. Shame the real names were changed particularly the perpetrator himself. A story that needed telling but perhaps next time take all your audience with you with that message.

If you want to watch a brilliantly acted and truthful adaption of this piece of history then look no further than the BBCs early 70s series Elizabeth R staring Glenda Jackson. I would thoroughly recommend it for younger history buffs and those who like their history factually correct.

This is my first review on IMDB. Ordinarily I avoid like the plague these kind of gritty dramas on TV, however much had been spoken of Stephen Graham's performance in Line of Duty (another drama I have bypassed) that I thought I would give this a go expecting to watch 15 minutes and then move on with my life. How wrong was I. My wife (who hates depressing stories on TV!) and I couldn't take our eyes from the screen for all 4 episodes. The acting from all the cast including the young children was so authentic and real. Anyone who has come across some of these issues (alcoholism and the historic attitude to Catholic unmarried mothers) inside their own family will know how uncomfortably close to the truth this story is. The final episode was absolutely compelling and needs no more explanation. I would give this 10 but the sound quality at times could have been clearer and the back story to Joseph's own child and family could have been explored a little more. A lot of understandable strong language but nonetheless a must see.

I watched this a few months back after it received a rave from the film critic on BBC. What a fool was I. If foreign language black & white films with minuscule plot and storyline are your bag then this is for you. It is possible to have great cinematography and an actual story. This ain't Lawrence of Arabia. It's a pretentious and self indulgent borefest.

This is my first review on IMDB. Ordinarily I avoid like the plague these kind of gritty dramas on TV, however much had been spoken of Stephen Graham's performance in Line of Duty (another drama I have bypassed) that I thought I would give this a go expecting to watch 15 minutes and then move on with my life. How wrong was I. My wife (who hates depressing stories on TV!) and I couldn't take our eyes from the screen for all 4 episodes. The acting from all the cast including the young children was so authentic and real. Anyone who has come across some of these issues (alcoholism and the historic attitude to Catholic unmarried mothers) inside their own family will know how uncomfortably close to the truth this story is. The final episode was absolutely compelling and needs no more explanation. I would give this 10 but the sound quality at times could have been clearer and the back story to Joseph's own child and family could have been explored a little more. A lot of understandable strong language but nonetheless a must see.