The Drowning

No spoilers here as this drama started quite well but the last episode was absolutely ridiculous. Full of 'what the hell was the point in that?' scenarios and absolute disbelief in many scenes the drama went downhill at a rate of knots.

Ultimately when you think back to the story, very little makes any sense at all. The acting is OK from a few of the actors namely newcomer Cody Molko as Daniel and Diedre Mullins as Kate but poor acting from Deborah Findlay as Lynn who sounds as though she is half asleep. I won't recommend this drama as there is some very bad writing concerning the plot and overall it really isn't that good.

Right from the start, the music is intrusive with tense motifs used as people walk through doors with no peril. The music also cliched. As we move through episode 1, we can't build empathy with Jill Halfpenny's character as she becomes pretty creepy. You can almost hear the alarm bells ringing in the ears of the School HR lady.. and wonder why nobody else can hear them. But if you want tension, the second half of the episode delivers. It's just that it's the type of tension that makes me want to turn off, rather than go look for the next episode. A shame.

As I began watching this series I was excited, thinking this is going to be great. The plot appeared to be fairly original and definitely engaging. But then, things started to happen that, unfortunately, lacked credibility. Many of these had to do with the main character, played by Jill Halfpenny., in which she said and did things that seemed almost so unrealistic as to be absurd. With each episode this trend of incredible actions increased and by the last episode, the whole story seemed downright ridiculous. Too bad, because with its reasonably good acting and story potential, it should have been a whole lot better.

I think that the very low ratings of some of the reviews are a bit harsh. Although it is difficult to disagree with many of their observations.

It certainly had a number of very weak moments, some gaping holes in the premise, and sub plots that brought little to the table. But it was nevertheless quite compelling, and we did quite enjoy the ride- until the last twenty minutes or so.

How utterly ridiculous. It was as if the conception and writing of ths denouement had been handed over to a beginner. For me this totally let the whole thing down and I began to resent the 5 hours I'd invested in watching the ruddy thing.

This ending was simply shamefully lazy writing.

A woman tragically losses her young son in a drowning accident, a decade later she believes she's seen him on his way to School.

It's alright, I found most of the reviews are way too harsh, it's definitely better than the likes of the Sister and recently Finding Alice, this at least wasn't boring.

The story itself is unremarkable, it has been seen before, but there are enough twists to make it interesting enough. The third episode is the best part, the fourth perhaps is the weakest.

On the plus side, you're kept guessing, Halfpenny is pretty good, and you never know quite what's going on (same as the writer I guess.) The young man playing Daniel is terrific.

On the debit side, it's hard to believe it as a normal thriller, it's more a fantasy thriller, so many events just wouldn't have happened, the cash withdrawals, the job, the behaviour of the teachers, the chainsaw. Someone needed to go through the script and point out some of the daft moments.

I am so pleased to see channel five producing more home made dramas, and I'm really enjoying their output.

For me this was better than The Sister, better than Finding Alice. I quite liked it, 6/10.