Partners in Crime

This has been a wonderful series, its great to have a story stretched over 2-4 episodes rather than 12-30 which seems to be the norm now. Of course this was a 3-parter so it was perfect.

I am not at all familiar with this story, as I imagine most others aren't either, but it was a thrilling little adventure, though I have to admit certain plot twists weren't entirely surprising it was still gripping and fast moving.

JR was fabulous and very believable in her role, the energy and feistiness she brought was great. And I just adored her outfits too. I look forward to seeing more of her in this role, and others. She thrives in the 1950s it seems.

David Walliams, in my opinion, was entirely miscast. I could count the number of times his facial expression changed on one hand. He just appeared stunned/frozen all the way through, even in the parts where you would expect a deeply strong emotional reaction to someone you love being in danger or a facial-flutter when your own life threatened or you are caught out by someone.

He just came across as unenthused, lacking energy and uncaring like he couldn't be bothered to act. If that is how the character is MEANT to be then that's a different matter, but I think he was going OTT on the old fashioned 'stiff upper lip' quiet, introvert and calm etc etc.

And frankly I didn't think the chemistry between them was zinging.

This aside I will watch the next story and hopefully this will improve. Overall it is a wonderful show, just let down by the lead male.

The negative reviews of this series are laughable. Is it spot-on Agatha Christie? No. Is it fun? Yes. Suspenseful and enjoyable. Jessica Raine is not attractive? Oh, please. Yes, David Wallaims' character is a bit of a dolt, but that's part of the charm of the series. The acting is fine; the script is fine; and the stories are engaging. The episodes each ended with engaging cliff-hangers, and the resolution of each was believable. The series also captures a post-war '50s feel quite nicely. Some of the folks who reviewed this seemed determined not to like it, and it might not be your cup of tea. But I found plenty to like here, and wish that they had made more.

In every single scene, every single character chooses the most illogical and nonsensical option out of all available actions. It hurts watching this.

The main cast behaves in a way that made me and my fellow watchers hate them just 2 minutes into the story, and it only went downhill from there. Tuppence is plain annoying, her nosy nature is supposed to be the driving force in this scenario but she gets scared by absolutely everything. Thomas is just stumbling through every scene. Other characters don't actually possess any "character" whatsoever.

We made it through the first two episodes in hopes that it might somehow grow on us, but to be honest we're not interested anymore in how it all ends, it probably wouldn't make any sense anyway.

The Good: the sets, the clothes, the cars, the cinematography, the fun moments The Bad: poor interpretation of Tommy, poor adaptation of post-war 20s to cold war 50s. The Ugly: no dramatic integrity - impossible juxtaposition of fun-loving adventure chasing, and brutal murder. Tuppence cannot lightly enjoy chasing down criminals under the threat to life and limb of her child and her husband - it does not make sense. The original Tommy and Tuppence series (books and BBC) present a light-hearted version of adventure and this is the only one that makes sense for them. We watched the first story, The Secret Adversary (3 episodes), but will not be watching "N or M" because of our disappointment. However, I will restate that visually it is very stimulating and satisfying - beautiful sets, scenery and atmospheric camera work.

The series title is misleading as it has little to do with Agatha Christie if you are a purist, but it is entertaining enough for a quick break from reality. I love the sets and costumes in general; the setting is just post WW2. They did not have Botox and filler back then. A number of the female characters are pumped full of the stuff as their eyebrows are situated so high and arched on their foreheads and their cheeks so round and full, they have that all too common permanently surprised or even pained clown look that many celebrities have today. Unfortunately, the art of acting with a natural expression that includes facial expressions is becoming a lost art.