The Inheritance

This started out as a fairly average family drama, father and three adult children. Larry Lamb played the role of the father, which wasn't promising as he's not a great actor. Then he dies and the family find out he has disinherited them and left his wife of 14 years his estate, which they didn't know he had. Surely a silly state of affairs. The actors who play the siblings have absolutely nothing in common with each other and no charisma.

The drama unfolds bringing in the current wife, the ex husband of one of the siblings who has loaned money to the siblings brother, the coroner and the police. Some suspicious characters are introduced into the mix and a highly unlikely scenario of circumstances arise. All happen without any humour and all lines are delivered in a deadpan serious manner. It is the most awful drama I have ever seen and one I will never watch again. I went from watching episode 1 to watching the last episode, thinking that even that was too long a watch.

I'm not sure precisely what it was about this that made the "journey" enjoyable. There was definitely a feeling of the characters being given time to breathe and events were left to unfold at a sensible pace.

The problem, of course, is that much is made of the "secrets" that various characters are keeping from various other characters. So you're encouraged to believe that maybe several of the characters had the motivation to murder. But, of course, at the end, they reveal the actual culprit and all that potential collapses to a single not very significant point.

So, enjoy it for the ride, but expect to be disappointed by the ending.

Just watched the first episode. The characters are getting established and the casting looks really good. Interesting narration with hooks in the right places. Looking forward to the next episode. Acting is really good by this star-studded cast, with the character personalities being brought out brilliantly by the actors in the series. The storyline is interesting, if slightly predictable at the moment. Hopefully there will be some interesting twists and a tidy ending. Would highly recommend watching it at the moment. The direction is good. The proof of the pudding will be in the further narrative.

Siblings Chloe, Sian and Daniel learn that their father has died, at the reading of the will, they are horrified to learn that their dad has left his estate to a wife named Susan, a wife the trio knew nothing of.

It's an interesting subject, families can be tight and loving, but throw money into the mix, and all hell literally can be let loose.

It's a bit of a slow burner, I struggled to get into the first episode, bud it gets better as it develops. As the bosh count rises, so does the intrigue. It's suspenseful, it's intriguing, it gives an insight into how fragile family unity can be.

It's one of Channel Five's better offerings, I'm enjoying their dramas more than many coming from the other networks.

The acting is rather good, they certainly went to town to assemble a very well known cast, we have the likes of Jemima Rooper, Robert James Collier, Gaynor Faye and Adil Ray, although you need to suspend your disbelief to believe that the trio are actual siblings.

How unusual to see a Channel five drama that's been filmed in The UK, and not Bulgaria or Romania etc.

7/10.

I liked the opening device with the family introductions done via a video taken at a family Xmas party by the soon to die Larry Lamb.

This is an easy watch all round that isn't going to win any awards but does what it says on the tin. If you're looking for a pacey little family thriller full of twists and turns and dirty hidden secrets give it a twirl.

I couldn't quite work where it was set, seemed to be 'generic up north' with a patchwork of regional accents.

Original and ground-breaking no, a brilliant cast no, a bit soapy yes, but it had some good hooks and it lured me in. Worth a look if you enjoy family dramas.