Mad Dogs

Bit slow to begin with but its worth it! It mixes funny with scary! what a story and with great actors! I hope there is a season 2!!!! It was daring and hilarious and the same time! The end of the first episode really sets the scene and as it goes on you start wondering how on earth they are going to get out of this situation! The situation builds up and up and up and you are on the edge of your seat in the last episode. God knows how season 2 will start but as long as it has the same writers i don't doubt that it will be amazing! Never seen anything like it! Wish i could erase it out of my mind and watch it all over again!! :)

This series (or rather series of series perhaps) started out so strongly in season 1. We were intrigued. The actors and acting were strong. The storyline different enough to be worth watching and wondering what direction they were taking. The four episodes of the short season were just about right. I'd give season 1 maybe an 8 out of 10.

Season 2. Still good though it did seem to wander a bit. A new storyline set somewhere else in Spain with a couple of new characters to add to the mix that made it interesting in its own way. Not as good as season 1. Not as satisfying. A few scenes included that we wondered what the point was. But still watchable. Down to 7 out of 10.

Season 3. What on earth is going on? It just seemed to wander aimlessly from scene to scene and episode to episode. At times, it seemed to be liking a Sartre play it was so odd. Scenes seemed to be added just to make up time and fill in an episode. Characters introduced with their own stories only to never be head of again. The final episode had a 10 minute drug induced sequence towards the end that was just bizarre. It was all quite painful in the end. 5 out of 10 would be generous.

Season 4. Well, we didn't watch the two episodes that made up season 4. I took a look at the IMDb reviews and noted that the final episode was scored 5.3 by other viewers. That said it all for me. We chose not to endure any more pain. Thank goodness the writers realized that enough is enough and no more will be made.

I hope that helps other viewers. Season 1 definitely worth watching. Season 2 if you are huge fans of the actors. But leave it at that or you'll be left with bad memories of the whole series.

I have to admit, I was impressed with the first series of Mad Dogs. I thought that the acting was top notch, especially John Simm as 'Baxter', which in part was down to the great writing associated with each character's development throughout the series. There was enough twists, turns and dark humour through the series that kept me entertained and wanting to watch the next series.

However, with the second series I always felt that there was several times I would find myself sitting waiting for something interesting to happen, and when it does, it feels almost like an anti-climax. Through each fifteen minute part of an episode it always felt like something would happen that keeps you interested just before the ad breaks, and when it came back on, nothing really happened like was made out previously, and the next ten minutes would be filler until the next big shock.

I'm not sure, but the second series just didn't grab my attention like the first, and I felt that Mad Dogs should have ended this time round, instead of 'To be continued'. I just feel that the story has been played out, and is not as fresh and different like the first. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but not to the point I would say I loved it.

My headline is a bit of an overstatement, as I don't watch much British television, but through my work as a subtitler I've subtitled quite a few British series. Usually, I find that British shows pale compared to the best American series. When it does work, I simply find American pop culture a lot more exciting. British shows most often seem a bit dull, slow, old-fashioned and depressing compared to the American equivalents. Therefore, it was a joy to find something like "Mad dogs". I subtitled both seasons (each containing only four episodes each), and I'm hoping I will get the next season too if there's a third season at some point. The show is actually exciting, thrilling and well-made. Only once or maybe twice did I find a few light plot holes or something that didn't make so much sense. The acting is good, the characters believable, and the script is great. Someone else here on IMDb said the show was funny too. I might have laughed a few times, but then I also laughed at one scene in "Schindler's list" (the scene where Schindler hires secretaries) and I wouldn't say that's a funny film. "Mad Dogs" achieves what it set out to do, which was to create a thrilling character-based series about dilemmas that we all might face under the right circumstances – a little bit like a modern noir taking place in glaring sunlight.

From here onwards, this is an update to my original review, which I wrote after having watched season 1 and 2. I then gave the show 8 out of 10. After having finished watching the entire show I was filled with a feeling of having watched one of the greatest TV shows ever! There has been some debate about how the show ended, however, but I will leave that up to the viewers and the users here on IMDb to delve into. I've grown accustomed to having to watch never-ending perpetual motion machines from Hollywood, where every episode is a single episode (usually about a police officer solving a case) with little connection to the ongoing plot line, which is dragged out forever and ever, until it's all either so watered down that you don't bother watching it anymore, or they cancel the show and you get no proper ending (or a very poor ending to a show that started out great). "Alias", "Prison Break" and "White Collar" are prime examples of this. You can't watch one single episode of "Mad Dogs" and get any meaning from it. There are no 'single episode' plot lines, only an ongoing plot line – and all the seasons are different, as the story keeps unravelling. They had most likely written an entire season before starting filming it (or maybe the entire show from start to finish), which is what made it so great: A story, not a money-making machine. Thank you :-)

Heartily concur with the review submitted by DemonSpencer. Can't wait for a new series.

The Majorcan settings were gorgeous,the acting superb and the tension palpable throughout. What a pleasure to watch a production that only relied on superb acting, good direction, clear well articulated dialogue and brilliant lighting without any (noticable) Special Effects. The characters were recognisable as fallible human beings doing their individual best to deal with a bizarre situation so that by the end, one felt one knew them, warts and all.

I am sick to death of hyped up films where the whole affair looks as if it were shot in sepia and the dialogue is almost incomprehensible, overlayed with inappropriate music and with no real narrative and where, at the end, one is left to wonder why anyone bothered to make make it in the first place. Conversely, I am equally sick of films where it only seems that the only object is to outdo the previous "car flying through the air and exploding in flames as it collides with an aircraft coming in to land on a speedboat full of criminals etc ad nauseam."