The Feud

I started to watch this because I like Rupert Penry -Jones. I was aware of a few other actors. My gosh. This is terrible...in a good way.

I've never followed The Soaps, so if you do, I suspect, this is tailor made for you.

The show opens with a Block Party, and we meet all of our main characters.

The inciting incident starts the next day when one family decides to do a re-model of their kitchen.

I won't even get into names and such. Just know that, EACH ONE OF THESE CHARACTERS ARE AWFUL. ALL of them.

Zero redeeming qualities. Over 6 episodes, every plot twist that could stick to the walls were used.

Did I have a choice to quit " The Feud"? Yes, I did...but, I soldered through to bring you this review.

I'm quite enjoying it so far.

It reminds me a bit of Exhibit A and the Mulberry Close episode of Inside No.9.

OK, so the plot and script are somewhat simplistic and the characters rather stereotyped, but it's still better than most of the dross that passes for entertainment these days.

Alexander Macqueen is particularly effective playing a character almost identical to Roy Tunt in The Hide.

Yes, it may be predictable, but isn't everything that's been overdone these days? Is it really more so than any of the other countless whodunits that proliferate our screens?

I welcome the return of familiar tried and trusted faces. At least they are people I've heard of unlike most of today's so called "celebrities".

I started watching this to take my mind off toothache. It was the usual 'first world problems' plot - John and Emma decide to embark on a kitchen extension to give them something to look forward to (I think). Emma has the cushiest legal job ever, which entails rolling up to court at the weekend and challenging what appears to be police racism. I'm only on episode 4, so I'm not sure. It's certainly making me think twice about having an extension when we retire! Apparently, it causes your neighbours to go psycho! And what is the secret of Barbara's tree, which she weeps over when she's watering it?

Rupert Penry-Jones is as handsome as ever, and Jill Halfpenny is as explosively bad-tempered as you'd expect in a Channel five drama. But sheesh, am I getting fed up of people greeting magpies!

Emma and John are about to up sticks and leave their neighbourhood, but she gets cold feet and wants to stay, and subsequently have a kitchen extension. The proposed building work upsets the neighbours and a feud begins.

It's like watching a farce on stage, the storyline is bonkers, but it's definitely a watchable series. At six episodes long it's too much, it would have been so much better if it had been done over four, pacing was an issue.

It was definitely all over the place at times, the story was so hard to believe and every single one of the neighbours seemed to have a suspicious look on their face and a dark secret.

The acting was rather good, Jill Halfpenny in particular was excellent, even if Emma was absolutely loathsome, spoilt and obnoxious, that's part of the problem, it was hard to have any sympathy for her. Larry Lamb and Rupert Penry Jones were rather good.

If only she'd just settled for new worktops instead, think of the fuss it would have saved.

It's bonkers, but worth seeing.

6/10.

There were plenty of advanced trailers for this 6 X 1 hour series and the 'stellar' cast led me to believe that this was a Channel 5 thriller worth watching.

How wrong can you be? The opening episode gave the overall plot line away although no estate agent worth their salt would carry out viewings in a house smeared with blood stains.

Avoiding spoilers, the timescale was confusing especially in the last ten minutes of the final episode with the appearance, of a character of some significance, for the first time in the series.

Someone has already commented that it should have been made as a Black Comedy as a dark thriller it was clearly not.