Crime

I thoroughly enjoyed the first season. Yes it is gritty and violent and the main character is flawed. That seems to be typical for many British crime series. I enjoyed the serial killer plot of season one but confess that season two has been difficult to follow. It seems to jump around quite a bit, and it can take quite some time before a scene ties to anything else. Other scenes seem to be so random. I have waited and waited for how they connect to the plot or anything that is happening and it just doesn't seem to be occurring. At first, I thought it was trying to show or reflect the character's flaws but now I don't think so. I think it needed a much better editor and a lot needed to be left on the floor of the editing room. I have found season two to be a disappointment.

Some of the low scoring reviewers obviously have never seen or read Irvine Welsh's work! This is vintage Welsh not the next tv detective that's why his name is in the title.

Yes there are broken obnoxious vile men, reference Filth & trainspotting, alongside brilliantly strong women. The cast is excellent Dougray Scott has never been better.

There are also some beautifully drawn characters like Ray's Dad along with the side story of Trudi. If you just want a whodunnit watch midsommer murders this ain't generic tv detective it's pure unadulterated genius!

And for those moaning about the Scottish accent...it's set in Edinburgh what exactly did you expect !?!

The overall story is ok, the acting is good, a lot of the dialogue is interesting if you are interested in Scottish banter BUT the main character cries constantly (like 5+ times per episode) and is so mentally unstable that in my opinion, it is uncomfortable to watch. I get that he is haunted by demons etc but he clearly should not be a cop. When you cry constantly and scream over a dead body it's time to had in your credentials. We have so much true crime and crime drama that we know the emotion of the main character would have him sidelined in a heartbeat.

If they reduced the emotion by about 30% it would have been a much better show.

Thought season 2 would have toned it down a little bit but unfortunately no, he is still constantly crying.

The first ever Irvine Welsh TV project is this fascinatingly odd procedural crime thing centred around DCI Ray Lennox, a bruised and haunted character, portrayed with mesmeric volatility by Dougray Scott. The whole ensemble are largely fantastic (particularly the evergreen Ken Stott and Angela Griffin as Lennox's partner Trudi) but Crime knows this too and indulges in strange deviations and character tangents that go nowhere. It's an intensely watchable show partly because of this strange unpredictability, sometimes it follows police TV clichés to the letter, sometimes it wildly subverts them. It's as irrepressible and chaotic as its ragged protagonist, for better or worse.

Basically a good murder mystery police show, but the mix of the mystery and police work is over shadowed by Dougray Scott's over acting as the tortured soul is too much.

The story gets dragged out too far by his psych issues which dominate the storyline.

It also adds a lot of unrealistic issues in the workplace which in real life would gave him out of a job in a day or so, Ken Stott is terrible, he comes across as s total buffoon, again in real life he would have trouble holding a job as a postman.

If there ever is a series 2 they need more plot and detective work and less dramatic psycho analyses.