Black Work

When Jo's husband is murdered, ostensibly while undercover, she starts digging into whatever was going in her husband's life - because she obviously didn't know anything about him.

And I must say...

Whoever wrote this has a very low opinion of Yorkshire Police...

They're all either dirty, inept, or just plain thick as a bag of extra strength sludge. All the cops go down the pub on the first or second day of the murder investigation for lord's sake!

The only one doing anything in this show is Jo, who by doing what her colleagues in the police force should do, actually finds stuff out about her lying sod of a husband. All while every other cop on the force does nothing at all.

The main downfall of this show is that, besides Jo, every other character is just too stupid and annoying to be real. From the useless Superintendent to the violent DS that goes mad on a suspect in an interview, everyone is a collection of clichés with a large helping of stupidity thrown in for good measure.

Example. At one point the mother of the dead guy yells her daughter in law for "not caring who murdered her husband", then in almost the next scene she's in, she yells at Jo for investigating her husband's death and "not caring about the kids".

Actually, the mother in law is a terrible character and I found myself hoping she would die.

I also managed to guess the murderer from the moment they appeared, most by casting choice alone.

Otherwise, could have been great, but the writing is too poor to have it be any good.

This show didn't bother me like it seemed to bother others. :) It wasn't brutal (I can't watch brutal), it was interesting, and I thought the acting was fine across the board. I didn't love the lead character, but she was sympathetic. The kids were both good, and the boy was not rebellious, he was sweet, not sure why someone said that. There were a few jumps in the plot but I'd go back 10 seconds (great button on the Acorn app!) and get enough info. I watch a lot of UK cop/detective shows and this fit well within what I like.

The show kept my interest and I was able to connect with the characters... the biggest distraction for me was Sheridan Smith's haircut and her duck face expression at times... I know, superficial things.... but still were a distraction. Overall though, it was worth a watch.

For decades, the UK has produced so many high-class crime dramas, that it is impossible to "shoot without fail" all the time. Tastes develop, as well as circumstances, and viewers may move beyond the approaches and issues they used to like in Poirot or Morse, for example, or have begun to like "new age" in the form of Luther or Prey... Black Work is a kind of related mix, but worrying and grief overshadow other elements, including credibility, several male performers are too look-a-like, and the final 20 minutes or so add unnecessary sophistication.

True, Sheridan Smith as P.C. Jo Gillespie is catchy and the background realism is up there, but I am able to "blurt out" dozens of more interesting (mini)series I have seen in recent years. To me, Black Work is more a long film than series, and when you see all 3 episodes in a row, you could realise that many scenes and dialogues could have been more compact.

Black Work begins with an undeniably compelling setup: a police officer is murdered, and his wife - also in the force - becomes entangled in the mystery surrounding his death. The emotional stakes are high, the premise has depth, and it all hints at a tense, character-driven crime thriller. But despite this potential, the series struggles to deliver.

Sheridan Smith takes the lead, but unfortunately, her performance leans more toward brooding than emotionally layered. There's a lot of pouting and staring into the middle distance, but not much range (perhaps let down by the writing and direction) . Her character is suspended from duty early on, which is accurate, yet she continues to dig into the case with surprising freedom - as if suspension means nothing more than a stern warning. The way she's able to push forward with her own amateur investigation, without facing any real barriers, stretches credibility.

A supporting actor, portraying a fellow officer, seems to have only one gear: rage. Every scene is delivered at maximum intensity, regardless of the context. Instead of building tension, it just becomes monotonous - like someone shouting at a wall for three episodes.

Visually, there's something oddly off-putting about the production. Every character seems overly made-up, particularly with blush - as if the entire cast just ran a 5K in full foundation. It becomes oddly noticeable and distracts from what should be gritty realism.

Black Work could have been a standout crime drama. The plot had meat on the bones, but wooden acting, unrealistic character behaviour, and strange stylistic choices undercut what could have been a taut and emotionally driven story.