Merseybeat

I only vaguely remembered Merseybeat, the BBC's answer to The Bill, and don't recall ever having watched it, so when it popped up on UK Play I thought I'd give it a go.

Bearing in mind that this was a prime time evening show on what was the main BBC channel I was expecting it to be at the very least watchable.

I was wrong.

Right from the outset it lacked promise. The character building was poor, I mean really poor and really hackneyed.

The storylines were weak and the whole production reminded me not so much of The Bill, which by this point had itself become a glossy soap opera pastiche of its former self, but of one of the BBC lunchtime dramas, Doctors springs to mind, designed as background noise for new mothers and the housebound.

To be honest I'm amazed it lasted for as many episodes as it did.

I gave up after 3...