Joan

It's 1985. Single mother Joan O'Connell (Sophie Turner) escapes after her petty criminal boyfriend gets in trouble with violent gangsters. She is forced to place her daughter with the authorities while she tries to start again in London. She steals gems from her workplace. She joins crooked antiques dealer Boise Hannington (Frank Dillane) on her way to becoming a real life Godmother.

I think this is a limited series. It could continue, but I don't know about any future plans. As it stands, it's six episodes of about forty five minutes each. That's four and a half hours in total. Some of it feels slow. The crimes are not actually that thrilling. Her desperation for her daughter is the most emotionally compelling. This needs some condensing in order to quicken certain parts.

I am writing this after series 1. The story is left open.

This had been hyped in advance for many weeks so I just had to bingewatch it.

Perhaps the hype was greater than thd show but, for those of us of a certs in age, there was plenty of nostalgia to see. The clothes, the music, the styles and the vehicles brought back there era so well.

I am not sure why The Wicked Game by Chris Izaak from 1989 was featured in a early 80s drama but it's not my biggest gripe.

Despite all the dressing up the show, the story is very modern being full of feminism, me too and all men are either weak or evil while it's OK for a woman to do illegal things as long as it is in a honourable cause.

Sophie Turner throws herself into the story well and there are some great songs but did we really need Bucks Fizz twice?

They could have included ELO and Ticket To The Moon which starts with the lines "Remember the good old 1980s when things were so uncomplicated? ... I wish I could go back there and everything could be the same"

Well, I certainly enjoyed the trip down memory lane back to the 80s. I served in the Met Police back in the 80s and it reminded me of some of the ne'er-do-wells I had to deal with back then.

It was interesting to see Sophie Turner going blue collar and embracing her inner Cockney. I thought she handled the role quite well and showed some versatility in a change from the stuff I've seen her in before.

The supporting cast were quite good, too. It was well-paced, good locations and nicely shot. The script was a bit weak at times, but not to the extent it made it less enjoyable.

The excellent 80s soundtrack was a joy, too. I hope they release the original song from the end credits, as they'd have a hit on their hands!

Well worth your time and, as they have set a second series, I hope they make it!

A sad story of a Kent girl with a rough life, who gets into diamond theft and other assorted shenanigans. It's not bad as stories like this go and passes the time, BUT whoever selected the contemporary background music for this needs to be replaced as woefully inept. It starts supposedly in 1985 and has Brass in Pocket playing from 1979. It switches to four months earlier but has two songs from four years earlier, in 1981 (Bucks Fizz, Making Your Mind Up on the radio and and Soft Cell, Tainted Love in a bar). We also hear Hungry Like the Wolf from 1982, and whilst all of that is at least from the recent past to the time when this is set, it is very strange that we don't hear anything from 1984/85. Finally, this is all blown up when we then seem to time travel to 1989 as Wicked Game by Chris Isaak plays on the jukebox. I have never in all my years seen and heard such a cocked-up selection of supposedly contemporary background music in a professional TV or movie production. It is so bad, it detracts from the show in itself.

I was quite engaged with Joan in the first couple of episodes and Turner and Dillane were excellent and had chemistry but unfortunately it lost its way as it progressed. It was essentially TV crime by the numbers with cliched characters and situations and from what I've read is not very accurate in regards the real Joan Hannington. I'm not saying it has to be as I accept it was just based on the actual person but I was a bit disappointed how it all panned out and it all fell flat, especially in the final episode. It was a shame as both Sophie Turner and Frank Dillane demonstrated they can act well and I hope to see them again in perhaps a better vehicle.