The Lakes

Let's just say that McGovern has done a great job in creating a story about how a small community can be influenced by a horrifying incident. The first season is brilliant. I loved the withheld ( often sexual) tension between the characters and the way how they appeared as persons you might meet in reality. The second season isn't bad, but it's just too long for its own good. There are too many uninteresting side-tracks about boring characters. Also, I couldn't quite relate to some of them anymore, they felt too much as made up caricatures. Though at some occasions it does reach the level of the first one, as a whole it's very disappointing. They'd better made it into 4 or 5 episodes instead of the 10 it eventually got.

Absolutely the best mini series ever made. Intelligent, challenging, realistic and funny, even hilarious from time to times. Issues dealt with are not easy; child's death, betrayal, gambling, revenge and wrath. How to be "a good catholic" in modern world but still in a very small village where everyone knows you and tour business? And most importantly, does love really forgive anything? The Lakes has magnificent acting all the way. It's impossible to name one actor/actress above other, they're all fantastic. This is an definitive must-see. Everything in it so real, so touching and it makes you really wonder your actions and value as a human being.

This remarkable series has already been repeated on Australian television, and as far as I'm concerned it can be repeated each year, and nothing will come anywhere near it. The sharpness of Jimmy McGovern's script, the breathtaking performance by John Simm, the direction of David Blair, and the awesome landscape of the Lake District form the foundation of this 4-part series.

There are many layers and sub-texts to this story. My family were still discussing it for months after the first viewing. Not all the decisions made by the characters in this story will be popular with viewers, but they are realistic indeed. So realistic that one is likely to feel uncomfortable with the result.

As a rites of passage tale, "The Lakes" is almost mythological in its strength, gritty realism, and impact.

I look forward to the further work of this remarkable writer.

Jimmy McGovern's terrific mini-series contains arguably one of the single most haunting images in modern TV, as Danny Kavanagh (played strikingly by John Simm) staggers out of the icy lake bearing the first of the drowned girls. Although nothing else (perhaps inevitably) sticks in the mind to QUITE the same degree, McGovern's writing & Simm's performance help create one of the sharpest British serials of recent years.

After watching the first series of the Lakes I wondered if McGovern could match his wonderfully complex and intriguing stories in the second series. Well I don't think anyone could have been disappointed. With even more tie ins, parallel stories and character development than the first series McGovern has again proved that he has one of the best minds in British drama. The star performance of the series was again from John Simm as the gambling addicted outsider Danny. Special mention must also go to Kevin Doyle as John who seemed to have a lot more fun with his new homicidal tendencies. All in all the Lakes has again brought me and a lot of others great pleasure. If you have not yet seen the first or second series I strongly recommend you find it, it will be the best bit of television you'll see all year.