The Fear

The most depressing piece of crap I've ever seen on TV. I honestly can't figure out why I watched all four episodes of this thing. Not one single likeable character to root for or empathize with.

It's an overused statement, but this is what quality drama is about. The background story about the dodgy businessman attempting to revitalise Brighton pier is merely a vehicle for the real drama of a man falling apart and the effects it has on his family and those around him. It really is that simple and, with a lesser cast and production crew, this could have been a dull and forgettable hour or 2 at best. Not so when you have quality like this.

Peter Mullan is, as always, superb and flawlessly captures both the simmering violent tendencies of a controlling businessman-gangster and the pathetic ramblings and loneliness of a man who can't understand what's happening to him. He showed a brief version of how good he is at the latter in Session 9 some years ago and this performance only serves to show just how good he is at this.

The supporting cast are excellent too - not a single weak link in this at all.

If there was one flaw it's that the Eastern European characters don't have the depth they could have. However, they're suitable frightening and the patriarchal figure is underplayed to just the right degree. No pantomime villains here.

Overall...this shows that some TV drama is better than the dross that costs millions and is chucked out to the big-screen multiplexes

Peter Mullan gave a stunning performance in a series which just dragged on too long. The flashbacks would have been better as a prologue at the beginning as they became boring to the point of being really annoying. I know that the intent was to show Richie losing his mind, but the four part series could have been reduced to two hours with no loss.

Two things puzzled me: why did no one turn the illegal immigrant gangsters into the police/immigration service, then they would have been rid of them? and the progression of Ritchie's Alzheimer's Disease must have been the fastest on record. My observation of dementia and Alzheimer's has been that it takes years rather than days.

Overall, 'The Long Good Friday' did it better.

As others have said, Peter Mullan was brilliant.

I enjoyed this series, although 4 episodes was plenty. I was rapidly tiring of Richie's hallucinations (which became repetitive).

I'm no medical expert, by my understanding of Alzheimer's is that it is a fairly gradual decline. Richie seemingly went from having a mild cognitive impairment, to being almost fully incapacitated in a matter of days?

This series was totally unrealistic and difficult to watch. The main characters had no redeeming qualities whatsoever and for me were extremely irritating. I could not even empathize with Rich Beckett''s medical condition of early onset Alzheimer's. The Albanian mobsters were so over the top that it was almost laughable. As previously mentioned, I should have stopped watching after episode 1. I thought it might improve, but , sadly it didn't.