Juego de mentiras

Not too bad a series, with an interesting storyline but it would have done much better with different lead actors.

Rebekah Staton is as stiff as cardboard. I know she is supposed to portray a fearful and bullied woman but she came out as an absolutely brainless bore. Why should everything turn out badly for Alice? Her bad luck and inaction became unbelievable after a while.. Alistair Petrie too relied too much on his facial expressions, it looked unbelievably over acted - and the first episode of him clumsily riding his bicycle around university like a mad man made it look like the series was meant to be a comedy.

Marianne Jean Baptist was as usual a good actress, but was some what too strong an actress and became a stark contrast between the other 2 weaker lead actors.

Had high hopes for this and it started fairly well but quickly got just plan nonsensical. And downright irritating This person was supposed to have conned countless people, created endless false identities, yet none of his victims ever speak up. Worse, when he creates a fictional identity as a climate scientist heading a major climate action organisation based in Greenland, no one checks his credentials and Oxford University backs him. I was 50/50 till the last episode, hoping it would redeem itself with a good ending, but no - it was totally ludicrous. It was like they wanted a big finale, so just ignored anything that had happened in the previous episodes, all common sense or any interest in reality. Not a single character did what normal people would do at any stage in the five episodes. Just annoyed that I persisted with it, hoping it would get better.

A very topical drama about a conman extraordinaire, (Alistair Petrie) and two of his victims, his wife (Rebekkah Statton) who he left in the lurch and defrauded fifteen years ago and his new mark in the present (Marianne Jean-Baptiste).

The central trio were well cast and all three actors shone. I very much liked the story and thought the production values were very high. They adopted a very stylised look and tone for the series that some reviewers have compared to Wes Anderson.

Personally I wished protagonist Cheryl had a bit more get up and go and I didn't really understand why she and her family didn't go to the police at the time but its a small niggle I enjoyed it and got sucked in.

Overall an enjoyable well made show which is worth sticking with. Would have given it a higher rating if they'd packed the story into 4 episodes and made it a wee bit pacier.

When watching a TV drama, a certain amount of suspension of disbelief is often required. For example, in a detective drama like Morse or Vera, the police person usually goes in alone and unarmed to confront the murderer, rather than calling in armed backup and waiting.

But in this series suspension of disbelief is needed all the way through. I'm constantly thinking "that couldn't happen", "she wouldn't say that", "he couldn't do that". The premise of the story is that right at the start, a man turns up in Oxford claiming to be a top climate scientist. Well, no, anyone could look it up and see that he and his supposed research institute doesn't exist. All the way through, the characters have to behave in a ridiculously stupid way for the story to work. In the final episode, it descends to a kind of farcical pantomime.

There are some redeeming features. The acting is fairly good, considering the silly things that the actors have to say and do. The sets and costumes are quite lavish; plenty of licence fee payers' money has been spent producing this.

I wasn't sure exactly what genre this was going to be when it started but thought I'd stick with it, and I'm glad I did.

Rebekah Station is captivating, she is one of the most underrated actresses in the UK and deserves to be in many more productions than she is.

This production is smarty written, well directed and also funny. We surely need a bit of humour in this world.

Of course the underlying fact that there are actually people functioning like the main character is truly scary.

I hope this at least opens the eyes of someone whom is being coerced by a psychopath/sociopath, not overtly perhaps but even in a subtle manner.

We can't wait for the next one as it's gripping.

Well done BBC1 for giving us a break from the usual trash on offer.