The Cuckoo

Where to start?

None of the 4 main characters are at all likeable.

The husband and wife are weak and ineffectual.

The daughter is spoilt and withdrawn. Sian is not convincing as the poorly dressed bunny boiler.

The script is predictable laid on top of a paper thin plot.

The acting seems pretty poor to me but it could be the script.

The police procedure allowing an alleged criminal To phone his wife (a witness) and other things are just not right. At the end episode 4 is really extra dire!

On some levels it's mildly watchable - the filming and sets and scenery are good!! The other critical reviews seem fair!

As usual all the good reviews prior to release come from the marketing team and the magazines and websites persuaded, however so, to look on favourably.

Here is where you get the honest reviews. I agree with all previous comments.

A clichéd production in terms of script, direction and visuals. Unrealistic/unbelievable actions by all the principal cast and by the police! :). When you consider the number of stages a script goes through before production you wonder why nobody had the power to halt the process and send the writers back to the drawing board.

Then they leave us with the possibility of a second series! Please, no.

The Cuckoo is an entertaining, albeit rather clichéd series, and although some big names star, it somehow just doesn't quite make it to be a top series.

I did enjoy the performances of Lee Ingleby and Claire Goose, and I thought that Freya Hannan-Mills was good as Alice Heynes, but, in my opinion, Jill Halfpenny was miscast in the role of Sian Gregson, and I didn't find her character all that convincing.

I also felt that the script occasionally veered towards the silly, and some scenarios left me shaking my head, particularly in the fourth and final episode, but all in all, it was pretty good, and worth a watch.

Quite possibly the worst 'drama' I've ever seen. There are so many things going on that simply wouldn't happen in reality it makes a mockery of genuine drama. I've read that by the end we're supposed to empathise with 'Sian', (I'm writing after 3 episodes) but I can't think of any character I've ever disliked more. Whatever her backstory, there is no excuse for her actions. Whilst Lee Ingleby and Claire Goose are good actors who can usually be relied on to turn in an accomplished, believable performance, here they are hampered by a myriad plot holes and very clunky dialogue. Jill Halfpenny basically plays Jill Halfpenny, as she has done in anything I've seen her in. All told, very disappointing. (2 stars for the location).

Because it kicked-off nicely, I stuck with it - but later reflected it might have been a waste of time. The cast is good, so too is the direction and screenplay - but the storyline becomes less and less believable and even a good cast with Ingelby, Halfpenny & Goose in the leads couldn't save it, regrettably. Just too many inconsistencies and weak interconnections. To imagine any mother would go to the lengths Halfpenny's character did to try to reconnect with her daughter (who turns out not to be, probably - even that appears obscure) and eventually abduct her whilst leaving her adoptive mother locked up in a stair cupboard, stretches one's imagination too far.

Conclusion: don't bother - and hope that these actors find better scripts soon. They deserve them!