Roadkill

Ignore the ideological anti-BBC campaign here. This is well written and well performed political drama.

It's evident that there has been a concerted move by far right anti-BBC reviewers to downgrade this drama, giving very low marks that are contrary to the majority of reviewers not related to the Daily Mail et al. In fact, after watching just one episode l think this appears to be an absorbing political drama, not wholly unconnected to events at the present time. l know the idea that certain politicians are nasty pieces of work who are strangers to truth upsets some people, but not the majority of people and I believe this is going to be a very good series based on what I've seen so far.

I have watched the 4 episodes of this show and I think it has some ups and downs, but as someone who is not British and mostly centralist in my own political views I felt I needed to give my thoughts in hopes of offering some fair perspective. Now in ep 1 I really felt the show was biased and anti-right wing, so for people who only saw ep 1, I see where you are coming from, but I did feel later episodes sort of shifted that narrative, Peter's personality is layered and his ambition isn't ideological, they do make an effort to show he's coming from a place of conviction not just greed or hate, he sees his actions as for the betterment of his country, the story isn't even about the ideology it's about how politics and scandals go together and I think the way the story concludes is quite effective. Is it amazing or earth shatter, No. Is it leaning a certain way politically, yes. Is it an entertaining 4 hours of content where you find yourself rooting for the "bad guys", absolutely! I wish everyone would give it a fair shake! but also acknowledge that people have different political views and it's ok if they like/dislike a show for the way it handles them, it's fine, but what's not fine is when those views completely cloud your judgment.

How wonderfully old fashioned this drama is, we haven't had a good Political drama for years, in 2020 we needed one.

It focuses on Peter Laurence, a Government Minister with Political ambition, and a checkered past. Everything in his private life seems to start spiralling out of control, at a time where opportunities for career development seem to be there.

It's good, it starts off fairly slow, but it gathers momentum as it progresses, you have expectations ahead of the finale, make your own minds up whether it succeeds or not.

Superbly acted throughout, Hugh Laurie is incredible, his ability to switch from conniving liar to Politician and man of the people is incredible. Other performances of note are Pippa Bennett-Warner, Pip Torrens and of course Helen McCrory.

I'm sure many will look at Helen McCrory's character Dawn, and be reminded of a former PM, possibly even two.

Beautifully produced, it's slick, sharp, with good music throughout.

The Politics, I say this as someone say in the centre, I'm not a Tory voter, and never have been, but.... There is a lot of political bias here, it's very anti Tory, we have Ministers wanting to sell of the NHS for one, Ministers in possession of I'll gotten gains, and we have the old boys network plotting against the female PM, it's not for me to comment, but come on, you need to be a little more impartial.

I would argue it's well worth seeing, but I know full well it will irritate some of a certain political persuasion 8/10.

I find it humorously ironic that the consumer reviews section highlights one of the main subtexts of this well crafted show. A lot of sensationalist polarised opinions based on political allegiance rather than acknowledgement of a well written script and some standout performances. I agree that the characters are a bit 2D but the show needs to form a base from which to develop. I hope the BBC comissioners give this show the future it deserves as there's a lot of interesting and engaging stuff here.