Dark Heart

Great idea and great acting. Tom Riley, Charlotte Riley and Amanda Raison are wonderful actors and it's worth watching the series just for them. The problem is the plotting; it all feels underwritten, or more likely either over edited. There's a lot of "what happened there?" moments. Nevertheless, still a superior bit of TV drama.

DI Wagstaffe comes across as a fairly competent detective, but he seems to rely on feelings more than logic in his personal life. Considering the severity of the crimes he investigates there seems to be a marked lack of support officers. For example in episode 3 & 4 it seems that Special Branch should have gotten involved considering the possible international connections of the criminals. We also see a surprising lack of discipline in handling evidence with some left lying on his desk instead of being logged in and properly stored. This series is not up to the normal standard of the better British police procedurals.

Most of this is a workmanlike unspooling of a mysterious series of killings. The victims are all men who were accused of sexually abusing children but whose cases were not brought to trial. Links are found to a killing which took place two years ago, but the man who did that confessed and is in prison. He was father to the abused child. But parents of the children abused by those targeted in the latest round all have alibis. Helped by some very good performances, notably by the lead actor, the riddle is unwound.. But the narrative is confused by a scene which seems pointlessly confusing inserted for no apparent reason.

Protagonist is ok, not great though. Female cast is horrendous, worst is Mohindra. Also agree with another reviewer not enough police work and too much boring soap opera personal life. Luther vibes?? They could only wish! You need a great personality, character, actor to pull that off. Wasted potential.

The show is impressive, following in the footsteps of life on mars perhaps most notably within which our protagonist solves various, exclusive cases over a number of episodes Will Wagstaffe (Tom Riley) balances a gruesome career with difficult family and personal relationships and the carrying of grief from his mid teenage years after the death of his parents. Strangely there's not much to link audience and character but still it's fascinating following an emotionally removed and calculated character playing the game so to speak in his day to day dealings. Exploring different murder situations/cases there's a real scale of ability on show adding a level of depth to our protagonist that might not have been there otherwise. Shot quite artfully in a grim, deteriorated Urban London the murders are horrific and the tone is constant and looming in a fantastic manner. Sadly there's a few predictable twists and turns but that's part and parcel of being a mainstream British made police drama, there's little wiggle room so to speak for originality, ending on a heart pounding twist leaving the audience begging for more I recommend a single viewing at least to enjoy a pretty solid slightly art house series