The Inheritance

Started quite promisingly, but rapidly descended into a tangle of ludicrous sub plots. Coroners liaising with relatives of the deceased? Police who ask a suspect to "keep your eyes open for anything suspicious"? A family that had apparently not strayed far from their place of birth (although displaying a vast range of regional accents). And the cast losing any belief in the dialogue they were forced to utter along the way of the convoluted plot?

The whole thing was a train wreck, with two-dimensional character and not one likeable. It amazes me how a TV company can produce a series like this - is the production company given free reign with no editorial input?

This show was pretty entertaining. The ending was pretty standard for a suspense program of this type, except they threw in a little twist that definitely caught me off guard.

I love the people saying it isn't realistic. Is even one of Shakespeare's plays realistic? In Alfred Hitchcock's North By Northwest, a man is mistaken for a fictional spy, so he chases the KGB across America, narrowly averting several assassination attempts, until he finally catches up to them on top of Mt Rushmore? Is that even remotely realistic? Nonetheless, it's considered one of Hollywood's greatest films.

Surprising as this may be, fiction is typically by it's very definition, fictional.

The story was pretty suspenseful, and the ending was way better than most shows like this. Half the time they build up all kinds of tension and then the ending is a huge let down. Because of the unexpected twist at the end, I definitely thought the big finish was fairly satisfying.

The acting was definitely convincing. I totally believed each of these characters was a real person struggling with some serious real-life distress. To be honest, most of the suspense came from the anxiety caused by waiting for the other shoe to drop in their personal lives.

Don't let the negative reviews turn you off or skew your perspective while watching this.

Just watched the first episode. The characters are getting established and the casting looks really good. Interesting narration with hooks in the right places. Looking forward to the next episode. Acting is really good by this star-studded cast, with the character personalities being brought out brilliantly by the actors in the series. The storyline is interesting, if slightly predictable at the moment. Hopefully there will be some interesting twists and a tidy ending. Would highly recommend watching it at the moment. The direction is good. The proof of the pudding will be in the further narrative.

I enjoyed the concept of this series and found it very interesting and relatable. I have a similar situation in my family with a split family and siblings though in my case it wasn't a shock that came out at the reading on the will! I liked the dynamic among the siblings and the first two eps especially kept me hooked. Like many mysteries it lost its way a little toward the end and didn't know how to resolve in a clever way but it didn't spoil my enjoyment. Good Christmas viewing on my5 and I recommend it with the caveat that you take it for what it is. Final question that went unanswered- where was it meant to be set?

I'm a fan of 4 part dramas, enjoy them more than the longer running ones which really should be compacted into less episodes. So with that in mind The Inheritance definitely scores in my estimation as the storyline didn't drag. With all murder mysteries everyone is given a motive and one by one the most obvious suspects are eliminated. That's where it comes a little undone as the final reveal seemed a bit weak in the motivation department. On the plus side full praise must go to James Collier. He's terrific in this and very strong leading man material so I hope he gets more roles as a result. I'd love to see him carry an entire series on his own.