markfranh

There is no doubt that the programme shows some wonderful places between Sydney, where the journey starts, and Adelaide, where this portion of the Indian Pacific ends (you can continue on to Perth).

The problem is quite simple: the train doesn't actually stop in most of the places shown; they are simply near the route of the train. The only stop the Indian Pacific actually makes between Sydney and Adelaide is the town of Broken Hill!

Everything else shown? Sorry, you won't be seeing it if you are doing the train journey.

(I will note that if you are doing it west to east it does also stop in the Blue Mountains but that's not the journey shown in the programme).

My wife and I did wonder how many British viewers would have thought to themselves "what a wonderful series of towns and sights you can see on this trip" and gone ahead and booked it without reading the fine print as to where the train actually goes!

There was little on the train itself other than a few short interviews with passengers and a few glimpses of meals being served. No shots of the cabins (which are very small!) which you'd think would be essential to any programme about a train where you are going to be overnighting. No talke of any onboard entertainment or the opportunity to meet other passengers.

Enough said.

Great scenery, but totally misleading as to what this train journey is all about.

My wife and I used to enjoy this show. Inevitably in previous seasons there was the odd dud but it is light hearted entertainment on a fairly low budget so you do expect the odd misfire.

You could always watch for the Shakespeare references in the plot and Sebastian interjecting lines from the plays at appropriate points.

All that seems to have been abandoned this year and something has gone gpne terribly wrong.

Episode 1 of Season 5 was about Frank and Lu running seperate agencies and then reuniting as the episode progressed. Nothing there really felt right but I'm happy to allow the odd episode that doesn't work.

But this one? We didn't even make it to the end.

What did it in for us in the end was a prolongued paintball scene about a third of the way through. It was just juvenile. Idiotic. Sure, there was going to be a murder at some point but we didn't even make it that far as we both turned to each other with the same conclusion that we didn't need to watch this rubbish.

What else can one say?

The whole plot just seemed unconvincing. Rick was unbelievable as a character and I'm afraid I put it down to a combination of bad writing and bad acting.

Sebastian was no longer interested in Shakespare but had become a children's entertainer. One of the highlights of previous season has always been Sebastian quoting Shakespeare so why on earth would they abandon this?

Can't be bothered writing any more really.

When a show fails this miserably, we just give up. Shakespeare and Hathaway was fun for four seasons but after this one, may it R. I. P.

There has been a trend in British tv series recently. Get a huge star or two, write some nonsensical script, and expect the series to be a huge hit because of the presence of the stars.

Well, the current rating of this series of 5.4 shows what people think of this series.

Suranne Jones. Jodie Whittaker.

Guaranteed hit. Right?

No.

We lasted two episodes before saying enough is enough.

To quote the famous line from Network:

"I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore."

This is the very last time that I start watching a series based solely on the presence of big name actors.

I got badly sucked in with Keeley Hawes' name in "The Assassin". Rated 6.4 on IMDB and I thought that generous. My wife and I gave up after 2 episodes as well.

There was a similar series about a year ago which also featured a big name and which was also rubbish (can't recall the name).

From now on, if I see a highly touted series based on the presence of an a-list actor or two coming out of the UK, I'm going to be highly skeptical. I promise.

Enough said.