Insomnia

It's a bit of an odd one. It portrays itself as some sort of spooky, supernatural mystery... but then just pivots into family drama and suburban horror.

And I found the family drama and suburban horror interesting and with some nice twists - but not too many to be silly - and I ended up watching all the episodes in one day.

The strangest thing is they almost seemed to forget where the story started and had a bit of a rush at the end to try and then return to that narrative. And I can't say they did it that well.

Those wanting more spooky goings on will be disappointed. It did feel a bit of a bait and switch and that's going to upset some viewers.

But as I said, I really enjoyed it. The cast was good too, and it was nice to see a different range to the lead actress from her time in Line of Duty.

I couldn't get through the first episode. I gave up halfway through. The development of the story is painfully slow and uneventful. I can't even really recall what happened. Pointless discussions painting daily family life. Who wants to watch this? Who bothered to write such mind numbing drivel?

If you want to captivate the viewer you must include purposefully thought out intrigue that is well planned and develops in a manner that doesn't give away too much of the story's plot too quickly.

The first episode, barely develops much of anything at all.

This is a hard pass so far, hopefully it gets better, I love a good horror series.

I was excited to watch this as Vicky McClure has done some great TV and the cast is strong but it didn't live up to my expectations.

I won't post spoilers but the overall story is actually really good however the show takes way too long to get to any kind of reveal.

At first it's unclear whether it's a crime/thriller story or something paranormal. This doesn't add to the suspense but is just annoying as it feels like the show doesn't actually know what it's about. Some of the side storylines are probably supposed to be interesting red herrings but they just feel increasingly pointless as the series goes on.

This could have been an excellent two-parter as there are some decent performances from a solid cast and the core story (when they get to it) is good. As it is, it feels puffy and self-indulgent which is a real shame and a real waste.

Lucky Vicky McClure! As we join her in this 6-part Paramount psychological drama with vaguely supernatural overtones. She may be closing in on her 40th birthday but her Emma is now a successful lawyer and about to become partner in a big firm, lives in a big detached house in the country and is happily married to her dependable, easygoing husband and bringing up their two kids, an 18 year-old daughter and primary school-age son.

But her luck changes spectacularly when her free-spirited younger sister Phoebe, played by Leanne Best, re-enters her life to tell her their mother is dying in hospital. Mum has suffered for years from mental illness and was separated from her two daughters when they were very young. Seriously troubled, she's prone to writing out a series of seemingly random numbers and sleepwalking like an entranced Lady Macbeth. This culminates in a particular episode when she was stopped in the act of suffocating her youngest in her sleep until the infant Emma stopped her just in time.

As she's put into an institution, the mother tells Emma that she too has her "bad blood" and that it will out in time. Meanwhile, the two young girls are brought up in a care home where Emma too starts to write out the same numbers on the dormitory walls. There's a strange incident where it seems that the young Phoebe tries to drown her which leads to Emma being placed with another couple who have a daughter of their own...

Back in the present day, Emma now finds she's sleepwalking throughout and has returned to her numbers fixation at work. Just for good measure, her daughter Chloe is taking drugs and having her first serious affair and the young son is starting to withdraw into himself, exhibiting mood-swings and is obsessively filling his exercise book with drawings of a "bad lady". Distracted, Emma accidentally knocks down a nurse at the hospital where her mum's being kept. Then her mum dies under suspicious circumstances and everything really kicks off from there.

Wildly over the top in construction and conception, you have to suspend disbelief in this crazy drama and try not to think of "Fatal Attraction" or "Single White Female" as you go. The last episode in particular throws every clichéd situation into the pot, including that one where the heroine races back to her family home to save her family having notified the police, who of course finally turn up an eternity after she does and long after all the climactic action has played out and the big reveals going all the way back in time are made, requiring the viewer to accept plot-jumps and coincidences bigger than a fleet of buses before it calms down at the very end...or does it?

McClure leads the cast through this silly stuff and nonsense where to my mind they all do a great job keeping their faces straight as they engage with every implausible plot-point thrown in front of them. I particularly commend McClure and Best for accomplishing this task as they explain the significance of the numbers to the viewers. It was all I could do to do the same but in the end, I decided to stop nitpicking and just surrender myself to the sheer daftness of it all.

The end of the first episode jumps into a trailer for the next episode that can only be skipped by pausing, fast forwarding, or backing out of the episode and manually selecting the next episode!!! It presents you with immediate spoilers that will pop the bubble of Mystery before you can reach the remote!!! I do not understand why this would be introduced without a "skip spoiler" button!!! This show seems to be a slow-burn, tepid tea storyline which will likely simmer for quite a few episodes before it reaches a light boil. For that reason, an ultra high speed condensed spoiler between episodes clashes loudly! So far the acting seems great, it has a real potential, as the plot thickens - no need to dilute it in such a way!!!

The show concludes with a loose end dragged into the pond and left there with no further mention of it! The purpose of the number sequence really doesn't add up! It certainly does not leave you waiting for season 2.