The Runaway

After reading the book and hearing great things from friends about this series I was very excited to watch it. Unfortunately, after the first episode I felt that the story went way off field from the book, and although it is only "based" on the book, I was expecting it to at least stay true to the main points in the novel. I felt that the characters in the book have been betrayed by the way this series has shown them and rather than falling in love with all of them like I did in the book, I found myself loathing most of them. The book is absolutely fantastic and will keep any reader gripped until the very end. Whilst this, I'm afraid to say, left me actually quite frustrated that people find it so necessary to completely change such a brilliant story.

Although Martina Cole always spins a good tale, this series was somehow still a surprise package for me - so many things can and often do go wrong with an adaptation from a good novel, so I avoided watching The Runaway for some time.

After a fairly tentative start, it remains absorbing to the end. The characters are raw and flawed, in a violent and unforgiving environment, but most nevertheless manage to invoke a big measure of empathy and/or sympathy from the viewer. I was left wondering whether people like those in the story really did rule the London underworld in the 60s.

Outstanding acting from everyone in the cast - notably Jack O'Connell whose charm and menace are totally convincing in equal parts. Alan Cumming is brilliant as Desiree, while Joanna Vanderham moves through the age changes and develops beautifully as the series progresses.

I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys quality British drama.

It's definitely got a bit of a psychodrama feel to it; with relationships revisited and mistakes repeated in a depressingly believable way. The two leads are extremely watchable although neither are native Londoners which is slightly apparent in their not always convincing accents (I speak as the daughter and granddaughter of actual cockneys - one of whom had had received pronunciation beaten into her and one of whom actually sounded like a cockney and neither accent is quite right.) I was totally fooled by Soho (where I spent a lot of my childhood and adolescence although in the 80s and 90s not 60s) - they totally got the feel right.

The supporting cast were fab as was the use of music All in all it was worth a brief trip to Britbox to watch - it was no GBH or Slow Horses but I found it very entertaining so would recommend you give it a look!

But it quickly went downhill from there. I made it through all episodes, but the story failed to engage me. The main leads act well, but they just don't have a decent plot to work with, and some of the scenes are really poor. Apart from the young girl who plays Cathy's daughter, the other characters are unpleasant in varying degrees, and the violence is extreme. Filling up the time with repeated flashbacks looked really amateurish.

I saw the same authors The Take and it was worth watching. But this really not very good. I recommend The Long Firm,He Kills Coppers or Our Friends In The North if you want to see a 1960 London set tv drama. The writer sells millions of books and good luck to her but the story is cliched and fairly predictable. It was filmed in South Africa and that explains the fake feeling of the whole thing. Cheaper to film in places like that but they just don't have the experience. I get no feeling that anybody involved has a feel for the period,unlike the series I already mention and the more recent Endeavour. Alan Cummings performance is the best thing in this,I say that as somebody who does not like him usually.