dezzz

The story, pacing and video side of the production including the acting were very good. However, the overall experience is let down by some rather shoddy sound engineering. Within the first 10 minutes, it should have been obvious to the Director that there was a shortfall. Considering the fact that I grew up in in Dublin and that I had to have sub titles switched on should be indication enough that there was something not so effectively done.

As stated in another review, the sound separation was abysmal for a modern production, even Smart TVs with Dialogue Enhancers and various surround enhancing alternatives did not do enough to help.

The Dublin dialect can be difficult to understand as certain words roll into others so it IS important. The speech coach should have realised this on first review as well and questioned whether it was actors' failings or inadequate sound capture and/or separation.

Interestingly enough, the actor that stands out as being the most articulate is the one who worked on Downton Abbey. Possibly the bigger a production is may demand more resources thrown at actor articulation?

Otherwise, as I said, I found the story very intetesting.

Well, as soon as the opening scene kicked in I thought, hmmm this could be interesting. The supposition is quite clear, a crime has been committed and the hook is obviously the police inspector's mother, a retiring English professor living in South Dublin deciding to spice up her retirement with a hankering to use her many years of English literature knowledge by solving a crime or three. Quite a few reviews have criticized it but I feel the series should not be taken too seriously, it's a bit of craic with the Irish humour, a great foil with the young lad of an assistant, a triangle with the mother, son and his wife and a backdrop of a police force that don't necessarily do anything wrong but rarely get things right.

It really is just a tongue in cheek mystery story that could be just enjoyed for what it is....a British style drama with lots of cute Irish humour thrown in...Enjoy and either read The Beano or Dostoevsky for dessert... ;-)

Incredible snapshot of a society not disimilar to Victorian London where a class of rich lived right beside the class of the poor. Ironic that George Smith should choose Charles Dickens quotes in his speech on Christmas values - also a shame that he didn't understand the real meaning behind what Dickens had said !