Insomnia

I was looking forward to this as I'm a big fan of Vicki McClure, but honestly even an actor of her calibre couldn't stop this from sliding into one woeful mess. At first the story seems compelling enough, but after a few episodes the characters start to behave in ways that will have you shouting at your television. The respective sub-plots featuring the teenage daughter's dodgy relationship and the sister's fertility struggles add nothing to the story except to provide the characters with further opportunities to demonstrate poor judgement and engage in cringeworthy conversations where everyone talks in circles. The second to last episode enters the realms of hackneyed, scorned stalker out for revenge who does a bunch of silly things that are completely ludicrous and overblown and ohhhh my, the kid's behaviour in the final scene... I was hoping a meteorite would land on the house and put everyone out their misery. Is it a revenge thriller? Is it a supernatural thriller? Is it a social commentary about adults who try to be their kids' besties instead of parenting? Or a piece about overly ambitious middle class professionals handcuffed by mortgages on gigantic houses in the countryside, burdened by their past relationships with creepy family members? Who knows? Please don't do it again, Vicky, you're so much better than this.

Wow just wow... wasn't sure if this drama was going to be any good but I gotta say a thoroughly great ride.

Loved this mini series it kept me intrigued from the start, each episode told you a little more about the story but held my attention as the mystery deepened until the last 2 episodes which revealed all the answers and tied it all up nicely.

Interesting concept. All the leads were credible and believable. Vicky McClure excelled as usual.

If you fancy a great story that's a little dark and intelligent with food for thought then this is just what you need.

Whether you watch it one episode at a time or binge watch I'd highly recommend.

10/10 for me.

The end of the first episode jumps into a trailer for the next episode that can only be skipped by pausing, fast forwarding, or backing out of the episode and manually selecting the next episode!!! It presents you with immediate spoilers that will pop the bubble of Mystery before you can reach the remote!!! I do not understand why this would be introduced without a "skip spoiler" button!!! This show seems to be a slow-burn, tepid tea storyline which will likely simmer for quite a few episodes before it reaches a light boil. For that reason, an ultra high speed condensed spoiler between episodes clashes loudly! So far the acting seems great, it has a real potential, as the plot thickens - no need to dilute it in such a way!!!

The show concludes with a loose end dragged into the pond and left there with no further mention of it! The purpose of the number sequence really doesn't add up! It certainly does not leave you waiting for season 2.

It's a bit of an odd one. It portrays itself as some sort of spooky, supernatural mystery... but then just pivots into family drama and suburban horror.

And I found the family drama and suburban horror interesting and with some nice twists - but not too many to be silly - and I ended up watching all the episodes in one day.

The strangest thing is they almost seemed to forget where the story started and had a bit of a rush at the end to try and then return to that narrative. And I can't say they did it that well.

Those wanting more spooky goings on will be disappointed. It did feel a bit of a bait and switch and that's going to upset some viewers.

But as I said, I really enjoyed it. The cast was good too, and it was nice to see a different range to the lead actress from her time in Line of Duty.

An entertaining mystery thriller with good performances by the cast At the end of the 1st episode I was wondering how the story could take 6 episodes to tell, but the melodrama kept ramping up in interesting ways It does get a bit far fetched by the end but it's aware enough of it's narrative excesses to deal with them in an interesting and intelligent way. The various threads are all tied up even if the characters themselves can't explain what actually happened and that's perfectly ok.

I'm hoping they don't makexa sequel as I think that would be a step too far but I'd recommend watching this.