A Confession

For all of you who want to watch filmmaking at its best, this is compulsory. Great performances and amazing directing by one of the best directors of his generation. Bravo!!

I agree that the idiot who came up with shaky camera work should be drummed out of film and I thought it had gone the way of the dodo but the negative reviews here are overdoing it.

There is some very good, understated, acting here. I also suspect some of the styling is intended to reflect the era.

It's also a long time since I've seen a film with the trailer "This is a true story" as opposed to the fatuous "Based on true events". I recall the story and this appears fairly accurate.

I agree, it's not as well made as it could be, but it's a lot better than some of the reviews here make out.

This is superb television drama. Don't know what the reviews talking about the camera motion are talking about-didn't notice a problem. Martin Freeman performance was outstanding as I expected and Imelda Staunton's performance as the untiring mother of the victim was truly award winning in every way. I thoroughly enjoyed this series and highly recommend it.

In 1984, when the Police and Criminal Evidence Act replaced the antiquated Judges Rules, nobody could have foreseen the dreadful consequences that this drama so vividly portrays. It would have been inconceivable that police procedures would have become paramount and the realities of dead bodies and grieving relatives judicially disregarded.

This story should be compulsory viewing for anyone who cares about our criminal justice system. The background and sub-plots are exceptionally realistic and the acting is superb. An excellent programme.

The series started a little slowly and I worried it was going to be a bit by the numbers but it definitely got better. The best writing and performances were around the families. Jeff Pope took us into their worlds and in truth I wanted more of it and less of the cops!

ITV have a tenancy to make all their crime dramas about the same thing - middle aged, white male cop fights for the truth, to catch the killer even if it means he has to swim against the tide. And this was no exception - the same story again.

But the cutaways to the families and the sensitive story telling in these areas made this one a cut above.

Also Joe Absolom was outstanding as the killer trying to evade detection. Watch it for the family stories which I won't spoiler her, the nuanced writing around their very different battles and for a stand out award worthy perfomance from Absolom.