The Deep

this series is inspired by the film of the same title, but starts out as flawed as the original film ends.

what else can i say. this series uses poor c.g. to amuse a somatose audience, and uses filler dialog in the same way.

whoever put this series together deserves a good old fashioned trip to the wood shed.

it has few plot points, obviously filled between with incongruous character reactions and stupid dialog which prompt time-filling conflicts, which stretches this tripe from a ninety minute show, into a British series length.

i was insulted by the watching, but unfortunately i kept viewing to see if it would get better or worse. the good news is it didn't get any worse. it played mediocre all the way through.

Now this did have the potential to be great. I loved the idea and I like James Nesbitt and Minnie Driver. However, despite this great concept and a great cast(on paper that is), The Deep never quite takes off. In fact, a vast majority of it was awful I'm afraid, and I honestly didn't want to say that.

The Deep does have some redeeming qualities. The scenery and photography are excellent and the effects are above average.

However, The Deep has a number of problems. One, the pacing is incredibly sluggish. Two, while the concept was great the story was repetitive and dull. Three, the dialogue is banal and stupid more than it is intelligent and thought-provoking. Four, the direction is pretty heartless. Five, some scenes drag really badly and not helped by some very awkward pauses. Six, the character situations are clichéd and the characters you don't feel anything for. Seven, the acting was not great... at all- it is not the matter of that nobody can act, it is that nobody has anything worthwhile to work with. James Nesbitt(Murphy's Law and the brilliant Occupation) tries hard but is let down by his dialogue and character, while Minnie Driver has some really wooden delivery. Goran Visjinc did little for me either, while there are some members of the cast that don't delve into their characters enough or are too young for them. Finally, the final part of the drama is really quite laughable to say the least.

To conclude, I tried to like The Deep, but the story, pacing and dialogue really spoil what could have been an intriguing drama. 2/10 for the scenery mainly. Bethany Cox

I liked the premise, unknown danger, underwater thus claustrophobic thus small cast (including Minnie Driver who I've always liked). I still think the idea could have worked. However what we got was an absolute disaster. It failed on every level I can think of. There were so many holes in the plot you would be hard pressed to find enough large underwater vessels to drive through them all. The personal relationships between the characters was shallow and unbelievable, and their responses to events totally absurd. It may have been slightly helped by reducing the run time from 5 hours to 90 minutes.

Where are the new BBC programmes to rival Doomwatch and Out of the Unknown, or the fantastic Edge of Darkness. Maybe I'm just getting rather old.

How many BBC executives are going to get a bonus for this one I wonder?

And as for one reviewer using this production to compare the BBC with HBO I just despair.

Mediocre - average: lacking exceptional quality.

The once great BBC has fallen foul yet again to that great modern British attribute; mediocrity. While usually I would applaud the BBC for it's policy on social cohesion the actors inclusion is just well......formulaic. The way in which the BBC put together this drama is almost as though it was drama-by-numbers.

All the building blocks are there:

Ethnic minorities represented (including the new kid on the British block the eastern European) check.

Evil state puppet to attract liberals: check

SF concept to attract males under 45: check

Unnecessary romance to draw in female viewers: check.

Complicated yet vague plot: check.

Sum of all it's parts....FAIL.

The dialogue was ABYSS-mal, the characters seemed to ALIENate the audience rather than draw them and I do understand why viewers might seem DEEPly LOSTed when watching it.

Having read some of the critics reviews, most of which were not very complementary, I decided to give this miniseries a go considering I like most of the cast. Minnie Driver, Goran Visnjic. Sacha Dhawan (who played a delightfully evil Master in the most recent Dr Who series) and Antonia Thomas (from the Good Doctor) as talented people I have appreciated for some time, so I gave this a go. And I was pleasantly surprised.

While I did pick up on some issues with scientific inaccuracies (show me a sci-fi show that doesn't for the sake of speeding the narrative up) I did find the story and intrigue compelling. The characters weren't one-dimensional, they (mostly) had depth (pun intended) and the themes of international politics interfering with scientific endeavour were quite accurate. While politicians mouth "save the world", they are often in the pocket of corporations, so the notion that they are motivated by a desire for world peace and lowering our dependence on fossil fuels is naive when you consider how much money is involved. If a natural biofuel was discovered that replaced oil it would be fought, pure and simple.

That theme was explored here in depth in imaginative ways.

There are high prices that are paid along the way, friendships are made and lost.

The CG isn't perfect, but even on my 4K TV it still looked good today.

So, don't let the nay-sayers turn you off. Give The Deep a go. It's value Sci-Fi with a modern tale to tell.