The Feud

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.

I enjoyed most of the series except the final episode got a bit convoluted. Emma, the lead character, really brought on the whole sequence of events. She was devoid of any emotional attachment to her family. I would call the way things turned out " Poetic Justice." Emma just steam rolled through everyone and her husband just let her do it, he needed to stand up to her. He didn't and things spiralled out of control. I know most people have security cameras now however I would hate to live on this street with all the voyeurism and scrutiny. Makes for reasonably compelling viewing.

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!

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".

Formulaic Channel 5 dramas seem to call upon a regular roster of fading actors to deliver scripts written by students on creative writing correspondence courses.

The plot of this particular pantomime is so predictable and so cliched that one almost overlooks the amateur dramatics of the performers.

It's rather sad to see actors of such established pedigree reduced to delivering the dross presented to them.

The premise that a professional barrister would overlook the basic requirements of a planning application to create a tiny kitchen extension is simply ludicrous.

I hop the cast are rewarded handsomely to risk their careers in this rubbish.