Passenger

If Sally Wainright (Happy Valley) and M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) got drunk while watching an episode of The League of Gentlemen they would end up writing something like this.

After watching the first episode I am confused and intrigued. People drive around in 25 year old cars but have smart phones. Someone plays a computer game from the 80s but they are an anti-fracking protester. Is this place even 'real'? I'm thinking 'Lost', 'Life on Mars' even 'The Truman Show'.

The first episode was quite disjointed and demanded patience from it's audience, that's a big ask these days. They did enough to get me watching episode 2 but only just.

I don't understand all the hate for this as it really isn't a terrible drama.

My only criticism is that we need another series to find out what's been what, and all the moaners might scupper that!

I enjoyed the premise and I liked the characters. And there being a few stories running concurrently is fine with me.

I binged over the bank holiday weekend but would have happily watched this go out on a Sunday evening each week.

I agree it's not exactly a comedy but I don't think that should be held against it.

They have to make another series though because there are way too many threads to tidy up.

Also, I guessed who was involved right at the start but now we need to find out more about them!

A compelling and pretty original show that's kind of a Happy Valley with a weirdness angle. The dialogue is great, the pacing moves things well, nothing is spoon fed to the audience and the performances are all first rate. Every episode is tantalizing and interesting. The ending leaves things rather open, with several unanswered questions hanging about, suggesting a possible follow up, though I think it works just fine as is. A very pleasant surprise. Having said that, some folks won't like it - people who need to have everything wrapped up and explained, or who use TV shows as second screen content while they browse on their phones. This requires attention and, not patience exactly, but a willingness to let go and let the story take you where it takes you.

The village of Chadder Vale is beset by a series of bizarre tragedies, DI Riya Ajunwa is keen to investigate, but her boss wants a lid kept on things.

The amount of people I've spoken to that said they gave up after ten or twenty minutes, and I totally get why, this is the most frustrating series I've seen in a long while.

It's all over the place and very patchy, I'd argue half is just plain bad, and half is actually very good, the last two episodes were so much better, but getting to that point is hard work.

The story was very good, the acting on point, but the storytelling side of it was all over the place, at times it was virtually impossible to follow. When it finally falls into place, it's actually very satisfying, and it does come together well.

I've heard people rightly mention Twin Peaks and Fargo, personally I got more Fortitude vibes from it.

Very well acted, Wunmi Mosaku as always is great, at times she's better than the material allows.

6/10.

Fancied this one but afraid it turned out to be a dud. The jokey opening suggested humour that didn't materialise. In fact for older viewers, it felt a bit like The League of Gentleman with all the funny bits extracted.

I couldn't really work out what the genre was or what the story is about. There seems to be a beast on the loose in the woods next door to the fictional Lancashire town of 'Chadder Vale'.

None of it really added up for me. The pointlessly sweary script didn't setup what we were getting into. Production values were poor, dialogue was hard to hear, lots of the interior scenes weren't lit properly (don't they have electricity in Lancashire?) and direction was poor generally with lots of weird shots and angles.

The cops just weren't convincing at all and looked they were based in a squat. There weren't any likable characters and it seemed aimless - a drama that didn't really have any real drama in it.

Might have worked better as a 30 minute black comedy. I'm afraid after episode one 'Chadder Vale' is already in my rear view mirror.