The Following Events Are Based on a Pack of Lies

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.

A very topical drama about a conman extraordinaire, (Alistair Petrie) and two of his victims, his wife (Rebekkah Statton) who he left in the lurch and defrauded fifteen years ago and his new mark in the present (Marianne Jean-Baptiste).

The central trio were well cast and all three actors shone. I very much liked the story and thought the production values were very high. They adopted a very stylised look and tone for the series that some reviewers have compared to Wes Anderson.

Personally I wished protagonist Cheryl had a bit more get up and go and I didn't really understand why she and her family didn't go to the police at the time but its a small niggle I enjoyed it and got sucked in.

Overall an enjoyable well made show which is worth sticking with. Would have given it a higher rating if they'd packed the story into 4 episodes and made it a wee bit pacier.

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.

Had high hopes for this and it started fairly well but quickly got just plan nonsensical. And downright irritating This person was supposed to have conned countless people, created endless false identities, yet none of his victims ever speak up. Worse, when he creates a fictional identity as a climate scientist heading a major climate action organisation based in Greenland, no one checks his credentials and Oxford University backs him. I was 50/50 till the last episode, hoping it would redeem itself with a good ending, but no - it was totally ludicrous. It was like they wanted a big finale, so just ignored anything that had happened in the previous episodes, all common sense or any interest in reality. Not a single character did what normal people would do at any stage in the five episodes. Just annoyed that I persisted with it, hoping it would get better.