From Darkness

There was every opportunity for this to be another ripping British detective drama. It had moments when you are fooled into thinking the script will get back on track, and then ....wtf is this nonsense...

I managed to limp along to the end and regret it.

Its not even that the writer was piling cliches into the script, there were some good twists and plenty of opportunity for original storylines. But the idea that anyone would let the main character anywhere near a police investigation is laughable. There's the stereotypical flawed character, and then there's ridiculous... and we go well beyond ridiculous here.

I wasn't able to finish watching the first episode...

Lots of shots of Claire Church gazing deeply (into the past) with accompanying visual and sound effects. Close ups of quivering lips and tears and other such artifacts.

Little else going on, the usual "boss (es) not happy with progress".

Then the flashbacks started, that did it for me, had to hit the kill switch.

The most entertaining part provided by DS Anthony Boyce, the Oxford educated dog-hating, orange juice drinking, seasick, hung over assistant.

Opening theme song is great. Only great thing about this poorly written crime series. A great cast handed a poorly written script to try and make it better.

Angst around the dramatics about Claire's mental health is a let down when revealed. Goes on for almost 3 episodes until we find out what hurt Claire is hiding when revealed. Gosh I thought it had been something horrifying like the victims found because this is what we are pushed to believe. Disjunct, male bullies and then the young detective takes a pot shot at Claire...why? The main character Claire's part is a nightmare, gosh how did she act it?. Series is only worth watching to do housework.

But ultimately worth the effort. Plot moves along slowly and overall it is not easy to keep up with what is happening. One good thing is that it is only four episodes so thankfully not too painful.

The writing is slow and laboured. There is an absence of anything that would draw you into the action or the minds of either the investigators, the perpetrator or even the victims. I found myself bored and will abandon the series half way through the second episode. I give the series a 4 (poor) out of 10, {Police procedural}