Baghdad Central

What a fantastic new show from Channel 4! Superb production values and performances, sophisticated direction and nail-biting script.

The movie was interesting from the very start. Showing how eager the Iraqis were to be free of the terrible reign of Sadaam Hussein. The movie also drew attention to the numerous factions in Iraqi society fighting over power and control of neighborhoods in Iraq that made peace so difficult. A few things I felt missed the mark: Too much reliance on Moroccan culture and not enough Iraqi influence. The actors shook theirvheads the wrong way for yes and no. The lack of InshaAllah in the movie. In Iraqi society of the time , instead that's life etc. A lot of blame for problems was put on Private Security firms, who weren't perfect, but they weren't as corrupt as portrayed. The film often used the term mercenary over and over. The best part of the film showed Iraqis wishing they had done something to resist Sadaam' regime before the liberation was necessary.

Otherwise great entertainment and a god stab at trying to reflect the lives of Iraqis after Sadaam.

What got my attention to this show that i had the opportunity to attend the first episode as premiere in the theatres, and to be honest i was surprised and attracted to the story of the first episode and had the curiosity to know how this will end.

I would say it has a lot of surprises and twists but some of them are expected if you could just think a little. They summed all the aspects of Iraq War in a story of one iraqi family, and they showed how this war affected everyone both the invaders and the occupied people.

The rhythm of the series is variant, sometimes it's on a high pace with a lot of events and surprises, and other times it goes slowly to the borders of boredom.

"Waleed Zuaiter" was definitely the star here, his reactions and accent are the best in the series, second comes "Bertie Carvel" who nailed the role of the despicable invader. All other actors didn't make impressive nor awful acting.

The music and sound effects play a great role here in attracting the audience, but you may feel annoyed a little bit by the mixed language and accents .

Finally, it's a worth to watch series if you are interested to know more about the internal affairs of Iraq War 2003.

I really enjoyed the mixture of Arabic and English the characters were speaking. My Arabic is not great but I could follow a lot of what people were saying. The one mistake I spotted gave me a big grin on my face. The union flag on Frank Temple's desk in episode one is upside down. If you look at the side of the flag nearest the pole it has the narrow white band upper most. This normally denotes that the person flying the flag is in distress.

This is a UKB crime drama developed for English languague broadcast TV; there are issues, but I found it well paced and very watchable.

I'm always pleased to see a director post here. The commissioning editor and crew can be proud of this work. There are some well drawn characters, a good plot arc, a touch of intrigue, and some fine scene setting and camera work. Well done.

More knowledgeable folk have been critical here about authenticity. I understand, but this is entertainment. I think the crew made a reasonable effort to offer a local perspective on 'the cradle of civilisation' to their English viewers.

I hope they get funding for another series. If so, I'll be watching.