The Body Farm

Well acted, well written, a little preachy at times but not in an annoying way. Didn't know this was a spinoff until I caught a rerun of waking the dead and it clicked. There really are no happy endings here, but they are still satisfying nonetheless.

I eagerly awaited this spin off from Waking the Dead but was sadly disappointed. It nearly succeeds and hopefully they will commission a second series to right the wrongs as it is a very good idea and the cast are excellent. They should ditch the voice over at beginning and end - they made little sense and were just annoying. They should move the street hunt for the criminal a little further back and make us care about the characters by giving them considerably more flesh on the bone. I watched 6 episodes and I couldn't tell you the name of Eve's number 2. Or indeed if he is number 2 - he could be her boss for all we know.

Concentrate on the Body farm more - the 5th episode really picked up with good forensics on the burned body - the stories are good but seemed rushed - perhaps an hour is not enough if they were to let us into the lives and interactions of the Body Farmers.

We were blessed there was only one season, and that season one ended after 6 episodes with nothing more.

So now, I must continue to write something to fill up a required "150 characters?" 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23... 999 1000 1001 1002 1003 1004 1005 1006 1007 1008 1009...

I expected more from this BBC production. The acting was wooden and with so many off-point moments. A deaf character who needs to lip read, yet looking down or away when being spoken to, still fully grasping the dialogue. Fantastical leaps in forensic deduction with no supporting evidence. The scientists must be psychic as none of the evidence links up. So many stereotypes, the maverick policeman, the mad scientist off his meds and experimenting on himself, the feisty, femanist female scientist. Seriously. All in a backdrop of a dirty, run-down farmhouse turned laboratory/body farm. None of the scientific findings would be valid due to cross-contamination from the dirt and people living and eating in the labs. Truly toe-curlingly bad.

It started badly but became quite compelling towards the end. Implausible in parts, with strange amateurish scientists and a lone detective inspector investigating a crime that would have had the book thrown at it in real life. Contrived characters. But an interesting plot and some good ideas. I shall watch the second episode before deciding whether it's worth it. My son was less impressed and I don't think he'll bother watching any more. As for me, I'm interested to see whether the cardboard cutout characters get fleshed out a bit in subsequent episodes. The quality of the plot is high, the script doesn't do it justice and the jerky direction left me cold in places, but still I watched it to the end so they must have something right.