The Stolen Girl

The abduction was quite innovative in the way it was planned so there was some initial intrigue. That said, this series failed to deliver on several fronts, the motive for the kidnapping was silly, and so was the whole line of the story associated with it. The ending fell flat. The car crash scene was verging on the ridiculous, the way the stationary car was overturned and destroyed and yet the other car travelling at speed didn't so much as get scratched, farcical. But the worst thing about the series for me was the acting of Ambika Mod, painfully wooden and bland. The character she was playing was also childish and annoying, not sure if that was intentional or not. Unbearable to watch either way.

The premise of the show is great and this story had so much potential for interesting twists, turns and real drama.

Obviously, it's not (like others have mentioned) the acting. Denise Gough or Ambika Mod could sit on a stage for two hours reading a book, not saying a word and be incredible. Andor was, of course, one of the best tv shows we're lucky to indulge in in recent years and anyone who saw it knows what Denise Gough is capable of. The same goes for Ambika Mod who I've enjoyed in everything she's been in so far.

So, I'd say it's really tough to direct Gough, Mod or any of the other cast in a way that causes audiences to review the performances as bad acting. But alas, here we are.

Unfortunately, the writing of the show was just very clumsy. Many of the scenes felt cringey with the characters acting in the most annoying way possible. And not in the annoying way that provides the main characters with interesting challenges to drive the story along. More in the I wanna bang my head against my fridge door way.

There were some interesting themes that could have been explored properly. Gender roles in parenting, social media, police failure, relationship dynamics and more. But none of them were looked at in real depth. The show felt incredibly flat, cheesy and on the nose. Some of the dialogue sounded so fake that it took me out of the story completely.

Not all is bad about this piece of television (even though I realise I made it sound like that). I see the potential and am sure everyone involved put their all into it. But seeing some of the best actors around today in something that doesn't know what to do with their skills and talent is just slightly upsetting.

The only reason why I did not give this show a lower rating is because I love Holliday Grainger who was the best part of the show.

The mother with the stolen girl and the journalist are two of the most unlikeable characters I have seen in a very long time. Part of it can be attributed to the writing for sure but half of it is the acting. The mother is an absolutely annoying character and the journalist has the most horrendous facial expressions. I swear I just want to fast forward whenever they're on screen which is the majority of the time.

I'm also absolutely shocked that Jim Sturgess (still handsome as ever) is in the show. He was on the verge of becoming a real big star about 15 years ago and now he's in this god awful tv show.

This was really good, until it wasn't. The concept was great, and so were the first two episodes. But then there were so many red herrings and plot twists that it descended into ridiculousness. To the point that when it ended, I didn't really care about the main character, and I was glad it was over. Very disappointing.

Somewhere deep inside is a plot that has some merit but, with the exception of Holiday Grainger, the acting is so bad it's beyond laughable. One can only suspect that Disney+ signed it up unseen.

The performance of the distraught mother (Elisa) and the lead detective (D. I. Sinclair) are disgraceful but award winning by comparison to journalist (Selma) and her editor (Kaleb). Most of the others are bad but could easily blame diabolical direction.

Selma interviews without taking notes and receives photographic evidence via email which arrives within seconds and without having given her address.

Reactions are amateurish and situations contrived however, the worst part of all is that I watched all 5 episodes but in my defence, I had a wager on the ending.