Roadkill

As an expat Brit who grew up in the reign of Queen Thatcher this resonates.

David Hare is at least consistent, mostly from the self-righteous Tony Blair worldview.

You know you'll get some disparagement of the Tories but God knows if you're paying attention you know it's well deserved...

Political venality isn't party specific so he does a good job with lightly sketched characters.

I liked the music, no idea why so many didn't.

It's not House of Cards, but Barbie isn't Oppenheimer...so what?

Well acted and filmed, yes there are cliches and tropes here. In political drama thus will it ever be so.

A good use of four hours of your leisure time.

Watch this!!!!

I have watched the 4 episodes of this show and I think it has some ups and downs, but as someone who is not British and mostly centralist in my own political views I felt I needed to give my thoughts in hopes of offering some fair perspective. Now in ep 1 I really felt the show was biased and anti-right wing, so for people who only saw ep 1, I see where you are coming from, but I did feel later episodes sort of shifted that narrative, Peter's personality is layered and his ambition isn't ideological, they do make an effort to show he's coming from a place of conviction not just greed or hate, he sees his actions as for the betterment of his country, the story isn't even about the ideology it's about how politics and scandals go together and I think the way the story concludes is quite effective. Is it amazing or earth shatter, No. Is it leaning a certain way politically, yes. Is it an entertaining 4 hours of content where you find yourself rooting for the "bad guys", absolutely! I wish everyone would give it a fair shake! but also acknowledge that people have different political views and it's ok if they like/dislike a show for the way it handles them, it's fine, but what's not fine is when those views completely cloud your judgment.

How wonderfully old fashioned this drama is, we haven't had a good Political drama for years, in 2020 we needed one.

It focuses on Peter Laurence, a Government Minister with Political ambition, and a checkered past. Everything in his private life seems to start spiralling out of control, at a time where opportunities for career development seem to be there.

It's good, it starts off fairly slow, but it gathers momentum as it progresses, you have expectations ahead of the finale, make your own minds up whether it succeeds or not.

Superbly acted throughout, Hugh Laurie is incredible, his ability to switch from conniving liar to Politician and man of the people is incredible. Other performances of note are Pippa Bennett-Warner, Pip Torrens and of course Helen McCrory.

I'm sure many will look at Helen McCrory's character Dawn, and be reminded of a former PM, possibly even two.

Beautifully produced, it's slick, sharp, with good music throughout.

The Politics, I say this as someone say in the centre, I'm not a Tory voter, and never have been, but.... There is a lot of political bias here, it's very anti Tory, we have Ministers wanting to sell of the NHS for one, Ministers in possession of I'll gotten gains, and we have the old boys network plotting against the female PM, it's not for me to comment, but come on, you need to be a little more impartial.

I would argue it's well worth seeing, but I know full well it will irritate some of a certain political persuasion 8/10.

So now I got the public service announcement out of the way, lets discuss this series so far.

Acting is solid, pacing is suitable. Dialog seems a bit unnatural at times. Its as if the cast don't really gel, but sometimes that takes time in a new series.

Subtle comedy and intrigue support what would suite those who like dry slow-roll political drama. It has enough to keep you watching, but mostly because of Laurie's character and on-screen presence.

I would not recommend for those not familiar with UK politics. Most US viewers won't understand some of the political interactions.

For this genre and target audience its a solid entry. It may end up being something special eventually, but currently its a little stunted- and that's what stops it being great.

7.5/10

It's evident that there has been a concerted move by far right anti-BBC reviewers to downgrade this drama, giving very low marks that are contrary to the majority of reviewers not related to the Daily Mail et al. In fact, after watching just one episode l think this appears to be an absorbing political drama, not wholly unconnected to events at the present time. l know the idea that certain politicians are nasty pieces of work who are strangers to truth upsets some people, but not the majority of people and I believe this is going to be a very good series based on what I've seen so far.