The Aliens

The Aliens, is one of those earthy, unabashed, human drama's the UK does so well.

The initial premise is a little reminiscent of District 9. The aliens who arrive on earth as refugees, live in a segregated zone. That said, in this instance, the otherworldly refugees are, in most respects, more human than not. There are some differences, which offer the opportunity for some classic, rather ribald, Brit humour. Alien pacifying sound grenades, for example, that can be rigged to make the aliens run to the toilet. Or alien body hair, that can be shaved off and sold as a smokable narcotic.

The acting is good too, with the well cast Michael Socha, who some might remember from the series Being Human, in the lead role. Socha's character's rather sad sack, doe eyed, hopelessly unaware misfit, who works as an alien border guard, is a brilliant comedic foil, that softens some of the series more hard edged moments.

The Aliens is, if episode one is anything to go by, off to a good start. I look forward to seeing where this rather zany, quirky series, goes next. Eight out of ten from me.

Something of a flawed gem.

Like many British dramas it is rather gritty at times. Set in a dystopian Britain of the future divided between humans and an alien ghetto.

Some of the themes are a little trite. There are clear allusions to the immigrant crisis faced by Europe in general and the UK in particular. There is a feeling of both sides being imprisoned behind the wall, although I'm not sure that was entirely the intention of the director or the writers. There is comedy but it can be a bit hard to spot at times.

There are some good performances, although some of the talent is rather wasted.

On balance watchable if you've got a bit of spare time but it is understandable that they didn't want to make another series.

I don't usually write reviews but I felt I had to as this show is incredibly underrated here for completely irrelevant and silly reasons. Someone said it was created by the same people as Misfits? Irrelevant. The apartheid theme is too liberal for your political persuasion? Irrelevant. Too "urban" (seriously, what?) for you? Irrelevant. Not as good as a completely unrelated sci-fi movie with one similar plot point? Also irrelevant.

The story lines are compelling, the acting is very good, and the plot is very believable. I have never seen so many ridiculous complaints about a show (and no, I am not a "fanboi").

Science fiction isn't just about superheroes and superpowers, at it's core the genre is meant to portray difficult topics (like the immigration/migrant/refugee debate for instance here) in an atypical way that makes you think about them conceptually rather than exactly as they are. Does this show achieve that? Yes, absolutely. We can quibble about whether it does it effectively or not (I think it does) but it seems like some people reviewing this show can't wrap their heads around the fact that that's what sci-fi is often meant to do. It balances that with some humor and cringe comedy, which works here, nothing truly hilarious but decent enough.

All in all, it's a decent show with good writing, good acting that shows a lot of promise. It's mind boggling why it would deserve a 5.7 rating (not least of all because it's only 3 episodes in so far!).

I was drawn to this mini-series due to past performances by Michaela Coel in Chewing Gum and Black Earth Rising. I didn't know what to expect as far as the story line itself and I has a hard time understanding what was being said eary on in the first episode but once I became focus on the story did not disappoint I found it uniquely intriguing in fact engrossing. Michaela Coel once again pulls its off the women does have range and the supporting case was right on point. If your patient this series is well worth the watch and more. A bit of humor in spots but with a series nature which keeps you alert and on your toes. I highly recommend this movie at least it worked for me.

This came up as a trailer for me yesterday. I like socha and cole so I decided to watch it( almost didn't when I saw the average rating here, glad I didn't. My only compliant is the alien thing? There wasn't anything to really differentiate an alien from a human other than where they lived. They didn't possess any powers and they died like normal. Anyways other than that I quite liked it. I wasn't a big fan Of Micheala Cole's character but I thought it was a decent watch. I wouldn't put it in the Sci-fi category more like Drama, crime, drugs oh and the actress that I recently watched in Harlots( forgot her name) in it. I'd recommend to any one that likes UK thrillers, crime stuff since that's my genre.