Frauds

Sam collects her friend Bert from prison; she's served ten years for a crime the pair committed together. Bert is out, and with cancer and limited time, she wants one last job-a big one.

I genuinely looked forward to this series. I love the cast and the premise sounded promising, but the reality is unfortunately a show that falls flat.

I'm a big fan of Suranne Jones-she knows how to lead a series, can be funny, and really connect with the audience. Sadly, here she made me want to weep years of pure frustration.

Five episodes of soap opera plots. Will they actually get the job done? Anything that could go wrong does, and as such it feels like a soap opera-you can't tell if it's 'Coronation Street' or 'Hustle'.

Credit where it's due: episodes 2 and 4 were both good, giving me hope for the eventual pay-off. Unfortunately, 5 and 6 were shocking; you can only suspend disbelief so far.

Plot holes galore, particularly in episode 6. Once you unpick the glaring absurdities and realise the twist before it's delivered, you'll be clutching the arms of your chair in total frustration.

You could watch episodes 1 and 6 and get the gist; the stuff in the middle is just filler.

5/10.

Is this really the best of British TV ? An unthrilling crime drama set in an empty Spain? Everyone is 'acting' and none of it seems real at all. It looks as tho its been made on a minuscule budget with a script knocked up on the back of an envelope. I have three episodes to go so i guess i better stick with it. It will get better won't it ?

I hoped this would be good; it wasn't. My views are better expressed in all the other 1 and 2 star reviews here.

Interesting slant: all the main UK dailies rate this programme highly, really highly, when the series is obviously flawed (budget, location, script etc), so is there some form of journalistic cartel at work?

Re viewing this after series 1 (left open for s2).

The final episode was good but if took s long time getting there.

Doctor Who transports Doctor Foster and a good Northern cast to Malaga (actually Tenerife!) for a heist which could just have easily (and feasibly) done in Manchester nicking a painting from The Lowry.

With Suranne and Jodie seemingly never off our screens, they change their hair colours for this to distract from the fact.

As with all modern dramas men (particularly white ones) are made to look foolish, weak or evil succumbing to the plotting of the main characters and the locals (particularly thd police and security staff) are treated in the same manner.

There is a twist in the tale to live up episode 6 but it's a long time getting there.

The finale improves what would have been a very low star rating despite the hype in the media around the show.

Dire, cliche'd, pedestrian - UK TV at its worst. Awful locations considering what's available in Spain, boring plot, barely dragged out of the mire by reasonably reputable actors, doing their best with a poor scripts. I managed to get through Ep.1, trying to see what Lucy Mangan sees in it, only to give up entirely as it was so tedious.