Y Golau

Wow this was good.

Joanna Scanlon and Alexander Roach both starred in the brilliant No Offence and are both excellent here too.

The story is about a mother who's daughter was murdered by a local boy but the body was never found. The murderer played by Iwan Reon has never been able to recall what he did with the body but despite this he is granted parole.

What follows is fascinating look at a mothers love and devotion and how it affects everyone around her and the journalist who moved away after the murder of her friend coming back to write a story about the murder.

There a twists and turns aplenty and a few subplots that are tied up nicely and some red herrings that Line Of Duty would be proud of but it's the strength of acting not just from its stars but a strong supporting cast that kept me watching and guessing. (I actually guessed right but won't spoil it for anyone here)

Filmed in both Welsh and English (The Light In The Hall) this is a really strong thriller right up there with the best of British TV.

Highly recommended.

Sharon's life is turned upside down, when her daughter Ella's killer, Joe Pritchard is released from prison, Ella's former schoolfriend Cat Donato returns to the village to investigate.

This is one of the best crime mystery drama series I have seen for some time, a truly engaging, absorbing watch. I binge watched the whole thing in one day, and was struck by the consistency throughout, it never lulls at any point.

An engrossing mystery, it's one of those where you're made to wait to learn the truth, but it's a truly satisfying outcome. Numerous suspects seem to have motives, you'll learn about them with each passing episode.

Joanna Scanlan and Alexandra Roach worked previously together on channel 4 drama No Offence, and once again the pair worked very well together, sharing some fine scenes.

Scanlan is excellent, I'm not always sold on stars doing Welsh accents, but she absolutely nails it, and not only that, she nails a North Wales accent, what a talent she is, Roach, Rheon, Williams, Halfrey, all excellent.

If you're a fan of Hinterland, Hidden and the other Welsh dramas, you'll really enjoy this one, and recognise lots of well known Welsh faces.

Some great location work, plenty of filming inside and around Carmarthen.

A very enjoyable drama.

8/10.

In a world where popular crime dramas fall into the same predictable formula, it's refreshing to see something brave enough to do things a bit differently.

The early episodes start at a slow pace, but there's a real effort to develop the central characters before it changes gear and becomes a highly engaging (and unpredictable) thriller. The decision to set the show in the dramatic Welsh countryside was a triumph and a 6 episode British crime drama with very little police involvement is both refreshing and bold.

I became hooked in this highly engaging drama and hope that we see more of Cat Donato!

Great work by Channel 4 (and S4C), the outstanding cast and creator/writer Regina Moriarty.

It's hard keeping one story plot running over six episodes, very few series do it successfully. This one didn't do it for me, it wanders and meanders and a red herring here and a red herring there, but an inexperienced journalist who is diverted by an affair didn't focus it. I prefer police procedurals because they are focused and you get facts and evidence piece by piece and you get a conclusion. This series started moving by episode 4, but I gave up.

This is another typical family who has suffered a great loss and parents who can't move on. Nothing new, we've watched it before. Joanna Scanlan, Iwan Rheon and most of the cast are good, but good acting doesn't make up for a bad script. I wanted to like it, but it would have been better as a 3 episode series and not 6. It's a depressing series to watch.

The Pembrokeshire Murders series was a true story in Wales and it was fast and focused and kept my attention. There is a lesson there, but sadly I doubt producers and writers will take it.

With dramas that you get on channel 4 and channel 5 you might find 1 out of 5 is actually worth watching, this was worth watching and more. This is a spoiler free review but I would think that most people will have the same 'inkling' that I did on episode 1.

There might be some obviousness about the series but the acting and script more than make up for it.

There are some wonderful scenery, and it goes to show how much of a beautiful country Wales can be.

One thing that I thought was very well done is how many of us, if not all of us tend to be wearing rose tinted glasses when we try and remember what we were like and how we behaved when we were teenagers.

Overall this was an excellent drama with an outstanding story portrayed by actors at the top of their game.

It might even make me forget that it was Ramsay Bolton that was on the screen.