The Famous Five

I am in my early sixties and remember the books well, unfortunately, this series is nothing like those cherished books, apart from the barking dog. I think the problem is with it being a period setting whilst pandering to our modern day idealistic values.

That in itself is not a bad thing but it just doesn't work. I think this could easily have been set contemporary and be much better.

As with the recent adaptation of 'Murder is Easy' the program makers have hashed it all up and what's with the muted techno beat background music..is it supposed to raise the tension? It's bloody annoying and adds nothing to drama at all.

Watch if you are new to the Fab 5, you will probably enjoy it, otherwise expect to be underwhelmed. Kudos to the kids for giving it their best, they are much better at it than the adults.

I was really looking forward to this remake. I owned all the books by 10 years old ('70s) and read them many times.

I tried hard to watch it, but it was so awful. The changes to bring it "up to date", while leaving it still in the 40s were just confusing and jarring. I also couldn't watch Jack Gleeson (no, nothing to do with GoT) - his villain was worse than pantomine level.

As others mentioned, the plot/story was nonsensical at times. I also got far too confused trying to work out exactly how the cousins were related, and it took me out of the story.

I've not finished it, but saw enough to give this rating.

The first episode wasn't overly bad and had some nice touches and I hoped it would continuetoimprove. Not sure about the stranger things soundtrack but admired the effort to be bold. However episode 2 rather than getting better got worse.... awful even. I Havnt watched the 3rd... It's such a shame but just doesn't capture the source material for me like it should have and drifts far too far away from it on tangents that don't work and end being very naff. Feel sorry for the wasted cast and opportunity to do something long lasting and breathe new life into, granted dated, but great adventure stories. Nice idea... but for this reviewer, it fails.

Awful. Just awful. Adaptation or not it's not in keeping with the classic story telling and adventure of the Famous Five.

Enid Blyton would be so disappointed. All that time these books have been loved by so many.

And to not film it in Dorset is a complete snub of the love Enid had for the Purbecks.

Awful. Awful. Just awful. Awful. Just awful. Awful. Just awful. Clearly having a controversial director has done absolutely nothing for the storyline.

The only decent acting was from Timmy the dog!

The acting was dreadful especially Jack Gleeson

Terrible. Disappointing. Waste of time. Don't do it!!! Awful. Awful. Awful.

Continuity breaks and plot holes you can sail a wooden boat through, pacing issues, and some really bad dialogue. Yes, I grew up with the books, as did my kids who watched with me. We were all prepared for alterations in story, but so much of it was unnecessary and caused us to spend way to much time with the "big name" actors chewing the scenery and the dialogue, whilst the "famous" five were very often absent. The kids were appalled, and I'm still bewildered at how this could be so bad. And don't get me started on the dialogue-drowning era-jarring electro-soundtrack and epilepsy-inducing titles!