Wolf

Wolf: Yet another troubled detective. DI Jack Caffery becomes is obsessed with the neighbour he believes murdered his 10 year-old brother 25 years ago. He sits and sleeps in an attic bedroom watching the neighbour's house, his GF is getting tired of this. He even moved back from Monmouthshire after the neighbour was released from prison (he was in for other crimes). Meanwhile back in Monmouthshire a family are put through an odd ordeal. It seems to be related to a double murder which took place 5 years before. After a run in with the neighbour Jack is put on leave and ends up back in Monmouthshire where he helped in investigate the killings, naturally his personal life is complicated there as well. Dark, compelling, after two episodes I;m hooked. Based on a Mo Hayder novel. Six episodes on BBC1/iPlayer. Directed by Lee Haven Jones & Kristoffer Nyholm, screenplay by Megan Gallagher. 8/10.

I like Mo Hayder's books, and although Wolf wasn't her best work, the source material was much better than this, it at least had a couple of moments of brillance. This has none. It starts ok but only gets worse. The added characters are poor. Caffery is unlikeable, uninteresting, and his pain and anguish carry no real weight or emotion, which couldn't be more different to the books and is probably the biggest failure of this show. Both the acting (stilted) and the screenplay (flat) are to blame for this failure. The 2 actors playing the "baddies" do a great job but this storyline unfortunately gets unbelievable pretty quickly (same as the book).

'WOLF' on BBC iPlayer is a very different kind of drama - a ridiculously hammed up, deliciously dark delight - that is intended and succeeds in being nothing more than 6 hrs of pure escapist fun. Think Midsummer Murders meets Pulp Fiction - if stretched over 6 episodes and made on a BBC budget in Wales.

Juliet Stevenson looks like she agreed to star in this without reading the script and, as each episode unfurls it slowly dawns on her that she is in one of the goriest, most messed-up TV detective thrillers ever made. This series could well have been written whilst on acid. I loved it. The final episode doesn't disappoint and leaves the viewer satisfied.

Most of the bad reviews on here are from people taking this drama far too seriously, who have no creative vision, or who have only seen one episode. Why leave a review when you haven't even seen what you are reviewing?? That's like leaving a restaurant review on the food when you've only just sat down to eat.

Ignore the naysayers and give this a go - it is a fun, entertaining series like no other with a hugely satisfying ending.

I agree with the other reviewers that said it doesn't translate well. If you're a fan of Mo Hayder's books, you would agree that the portrayal of Jack Caffery is completely wrong. For one, he's much older and way more experienced in the books. I also agree that they should have started with his first book. The Running Man character is confusing unless you've read the books, also the sub-plot of his missing brother and the neighbour is given very little context in the screen series. This has been a running theme in the books that has kind of annoyed me as it deviates from the main storyline too much.

Whilst it was not a patch on the books however, I really did enjoy the series. I disagree that the acting was bad, I thought it was superb. The fake policemen used dark humour that I thought added to the overall perversity. The twists were shocking and believeable once everything came together at the end.

A little slow around episodes 3-4 but it picks up momentum again in episode 5 and by episode 6, it ties up all lose ends and is a shocking thriller overall.

Another 4 hour drama - actually a serial, not a series as some who don't know the difference would say - crammed into six hours. Excellent performances, good story with nice reveals, turns and dialogue. Camera work was good and not too much style (like talking while walking down noisy corridors) getting in the way of the telling.

I confess that the silliness of the two who held the family almost made me give up after 3 eps, but the quality of the hero and the others made me persist.

However I'd never have got that far, or gone on, without my Fast Forward button. Walking pensively, driving, looking round the house and so on is not dramatic or drama, it's padding and tiresome.

Enjoyed the reference to Doctor Who - nice touch!