London Kills

Vivienne Is played by a ridiculous actress, as far as the character of Sgt. Mophead goes. (Holy bad hair, Batman. And, what is with those shiny black therapeutic lifts she's wearing?) Whenever she thinks she's sniffing out a lie she becomes insufferably, visibly skeptical and snarky. Its like an instant transformation into a 13 yr old mean girl. Ugh, the revolting, off-base 'gotcha' faces she pulls! Meanwhile, she's a common liar, herself. Also, she's controlling, acting as though she knows best at all times, and is the only one able to place appropriate guardrails in front of the actions of others.

Unfortunately, novice DC Billy that every so often pairs with her, leans into this childishness too hard, and so she comes off as a bit of a petty fool, here and there. Mostly, she just seems acquiescent, is smiley and accepting, with a generally pleasant demeanor and slightly dumpy clothes you could go chop wood in.

Detective Rob is just walking while sullen, constantly. What an angry bore! And, I'll never understand a painted-on looking comic book/cartoon-cutout hairline. He gets targeted at times in S03 and S04, but maybe it's all those waist-belted leisure jackets he wears that get people prejudiced against him?

I know nothing about the average fitness level of a detective in London, but these people largely cannot chase down suspects effectively. When they run, they seem... heavy, like they're slogging through thick treacle.

Sometimes they figuratively pat each other on the back for piecing together practically nothing, playing like they're making sly, intuitive moves instead of putting together basic facts.

Their boss is often ignorable, although frequently petulant and rude, and he gets to dress with a modicum of wrinkly flash. He plays fast and loose with power and rules, Mr. Edgy does, and with touches of privilege, alcoholism, and sexism laced in.

I didn't mind the double-decker bus shots so much in watching S03, it was the dozens of times the metal box exterior of their office building appearing, and too much footage of them getting in and out of cars, and seeing the exact same 'uniformed officer footage' walking the hallways that did get annoying over the last two seasons.

While I did enjoy watching London Kills, and watched all 4 series, if I stop and think about it there are all kinds of questions, curios and downright weirdness.

Obviously low budget, as in the first 3 series we never see anyone in the police station but the main 4 or 5 on this murder squad. Once we get to series 4 extras dressed as cops walk up and down the halls in a rebuttal of many reviewers' comments that there appear to be no other employees in this station. But we see the same shots of the same cops walking down the hall over and over again.

I could not believe that in nearly every episode of the first 3 series the same bus #15 was seen from behind and the same white van turned left in the same exterior establishing shot - again and again and again. Came to pass that I found myself waiting for bus #15 and its accompanying white van each episode and I was not let down. Same for the green bridge with "Flash" graffitied across it in white paint. It became a very familiar sight. "Ah! There it is!" I'd say each time the same view of it appeared, like I was keeping score. And other similar exterior shots reused again and again.

Acorn TV is an American company owned by AMC, so no doubt it is making sure their US audience gets plenty of notice that this is a British show, although the name should be enough of a clue. I'm not complaining; I'm an Anglophile in Canada and happy to see Tower Bridge, boats on the Thames and various tourist attractions around the city continuously, one after the other, again and again.

Do suspects in the UK not ask for a solicitor when being questioned? Are police interviews never recorded? They appear to be in every other Brit copy show (and I've watched many). Do London police always arrest everyone even remotely close to a crime and ask questions later? Are all UK cops psychic and know things they could not possibly know (had it not been written in the script?)

There were some nice twists in some of the episodes, things that kept me watching, but some head-scratchers too, like how the heck could they possibly know that?

People who weren't guilty seemed to be forever confessing to the crime to cover up for someone else, while the guilty party was often, of course, the one you would least expect. I don't know if these cops were driving their own cars or what, but does the police service provide Mercedes and Audis? I don't know, if I ask too many questions I might hurt myself. There are many. However, I liked it enough to watch all 4 series (20 episodes in total) so it wasn't all bad.

Great story lines, but every time there is an office scene phones are ringing in the background... I understand they want to make it realistic but it's just a bit tooooooooo much.. can you get an extra actor to answer these calls?

My pet peeve though is that anyone ever interviewed NEVER has a, solicitor present That is very unrealistic.

It's watchable. Considering the base material, the acting is OK. But the plot is full of holes, the dialogue is corny and predictable, and the intrigue and character psychology are below soap-standard mushy. Oh, and it's directed like a soap, too. The UK have a strong tradition of producing quality police procedurals, usually with strong plots and characters: Prime suspect, GBH, Luther, LIne of Duty, Bodyguard, and the list goes on... Unfortunately, this is not one of these. I guess, aside from the expensive cars (a DI drives an executive merc that is usually marketed to successful senior executives and entrepreneurs!) they didn't have much money to shoot this one and it shows a bit as well. So this sums it all up: not much script, not much money, not much talent, yielding very average entertainment. They should save resources and not make a second series: no one will lose any sleep not knowing who killed the DI's wife. Just saw the end of series 2: it's even worse than I originally thought. I hope they don't make series 3.