No Return

Very unlikeable characters, impossible to have sympathy for any of them. Unoriginal, drunken Brits on holiday story. Predictable, just dull. By the end you just don't care what happens.

Sheridan Smith yet again putting in a powerful performance. A parents nightmare this story and it is worth watching and you won't be disappointed.. Everything Sheridan is doing at the moment is brilliant and she is an outstanding actress.

You don't see Sheridan Smith on TV for ages then she's... yes back again (and on top form), starring in a new 4-parter about a family on holiday in Turkey dealing with the arrest of their 16 year old son for a serious crime.

Written by Danny Brocklehurst who penned the excellent Brassic the opening episode was a confident piece of drama. Production values were good all round, it was well cast the actors were on form and it had a clever score. Great cameo by the Turkish lawyer acting for the family.

It's not going to win awards but overall I really enjoyed the story, it tackles strong and important issues like consent, moral dilemmas and sexual identity, but at the same time it was a thoroughly entertaining drama.

A family populated with unlikeable characters go on holiday, there's a incident...

Trouble for me was, by the time the alleged incident occurs, which is only minutes into the first episode, I no longer cared what happened.

I persevered, purely because Sheridan Smith always gives good value, however her character, along with pretty much every other, was so deeply unlikeable as to be impossible to empathise with.

The side drama involving Smith's character's sister was utterly pointless and appeared to be there solely to pad the story out to fill four hours.

A shame really, the potential was there for a gripping drama, instead what we ended up with was something that would have been more suited to a four episode Eastenders/Coronation Street storyline.

I feel I am being generous giving this 5, but it was just about watchable. Very serious flaws, though. Mainly the writing and direction. I find it hard to believe that Sheridan Smith would have willingly performed the role in the way she did. Her expressions in the courtroom scenes were especially poor. The mawkishness of the storylines steadily descended in to ever deeper cringe.

Having written all that, I'm asking myself whether it does really deserve the 5/10. I'd better sign off before I adjust it downwards.