The Following Events Are Based on a Pack of Lies

When watching a TV drama, a certain amount of suspension of disbelief is often required. For example, in a detective drama like Morse or Vera, the police person usually goes in alone and unarmed to confront the murderer, rather than calling in armed backup and waiting.

But in this series suspension of disbelief is needed all the way through. I'm constantly thinking "that couldn't happen", "she wouldn't say that", "he couldn't do that". The premise of the story is that right at the start, a man turns up in Oxford claiming to be a top climate scientist. Well, no, anyone could look it up and see that he and his supposed research institute doesn't exist. All the way through, the characters have to behave in a ridiculously stupid way for the story to work. In the final episode, it descends to a kind of farcical pantomime.

There are some redeeming features. The acting is fairly good, considering the silly things that the actors have to say and do. The sets and costumes are quite lavish; plenty of licence fee payers' money has been spent producing this.

A good story, brilliantly acted by an excellent cast, but tediously slow at times, and unworthy of five hours of investment.

Another reviewer made a point about how blatantly implausible Rob's lies were and how unlikely it is that an intelligent woman would fall for them. This reviewer neglects to mention that this very point is made in the show, and by the lady in question, who is exasperated retrospectively by her gullibility and voluntary blindness in the face of an obvious liar.

This show would have benefited from being a little leaner. Three hours would have been quite sufficient to tell the story, enabling it to move along more quickly and efficiently. On this occasion, it is not a case of having time to flesh out the characters, who are well enough established within the first hour, and, rather than tension, tedium is the result of the unnecessarily long time taken to reach the end.

The difference between three hours and five hours, is the amount of people I would happily recommend this show to, with fewer likely to take a chance and commit to the latter.

The main female characters, Alice (the ex-wife) and Caroline (the author), both manage to come across as being intelligent and credible, as well as slightly gullible at the same time.

For various reasons, they are both fascinated by Rob, a celebrated Oxford PhD and eco-warrior who seems too good to be true. Is he really as good as he seems? Initially he comes across as respected, ethical, and caring, but cracks start to appear - the question is, are the cracks due to his behaviour or that of the two key women in his life?

It's not serious, although the subject matter obviously is. There's also a nice over the top ending for this black comedy.

I wasn't sure exactly what genre this was going to be when it started but thought I'd stick with it, and I'm glad I did.

Rebekah Station is captivating, she is one of the most underrated actresses in the UK and deserves to be in many more productions than she is.

This production is smarty written, well directed and also funny. We surely need a bit of humour in this world.

Of course the underlying fact that there are actually people functioning like the main character is truly scary.

I hope this at least opens the eyes of someone whom is being coerced by a psychopath/sociopath, not overtly perhaps but even in a subtle manner.

We can't wait for the next one as it's gripping.

Well done BBC1 for giving us a break from the usual trash on offer.

Not too bad a series, with an interesting storyline but it would have done much better with different lead actors.

Rebekah Staton is as stiff as cardboard. I know she is supposed to portray a fearful and bullied woman but she came out as an absolutely brainless bore. Why should everything turn out badly for Alice? Her bad luck and inaction became unbelievable after a while.. Alistair Petrie too relied too much on his facial expressions, it looked unbelievably over acted - and the first episode of him clumsily riding his bicycle around university like a mad man made it look like the series was meant to be a comedy.

Marianne Jean Baptist was as usual a good actress, but was some what too strong an actress and became a stark contrast between the other 2 weaker lead actors.