Hard Sun

The premise for the show is set up very early on, there is a problem with the sun and the experts give us 5 yrs to live.

Two detectives played by Agyness Deyn and Jim Sturgess come across this information on a flash drive.

The premise for the show is an interesting one, when faced with futility how do these two detectives continue with their jobs while also knowing that many crimes they are solving, they are partly responsible for !!

Its an interesting question that has been encapsulated by this show and I think its the first time I have seen such an idea in television. The pyscholgoical ideologies that are set up for the show are great although I felt that they could have been taken further. I understand why the writers didn't take the show deeper as it would have made it very dark indeed.

Its comes in 6 episodes that are fast paced and for the most part well acted especially by the two leads. There are flaws to the show, they seemed to want to include as many liberal or politically correct influences as possible and while I am pretty liberal it did get a bit annoying and distracting. Other than that this was a great bit of BBC television drama.

8/10 Well done Auntie

The end of the world is nigh, and the criminals are still at it, even when the world comes to an end we are still need cops and spooks to put the bad guys away. Fortunately this serial was better then the premise suggested, what sounded daft was actually very good viewing, an unlikely pairing of Agyness Deyn and Jim Sturgess worked incredibly well together, two actors I absolutely love, so wonderfully talented, Sturgess for his recent work on Close to the Enemy. I'm just glad to see a drama serial on the box on a Saturday night, Taboo showed that it can work, we don't have to be made to switch off with only reality TV on. Bravo BBC again.

I'm not sure why this series was so derided and so little watched when it first appeared. It is a lot better and a lot less predictable then many of the police procedure, formula, drama of recent times

Being honest I think Jim Sturgess was probably mist cast in one of the lead roles. He is very good as the hard boiled, cocky, copper but doesn't come across too well as the often (over) emotional family man. However that could be a fault with the script or direction rather than the actor because some of emotional histrionic portrayed by the Sturgess character are way too much and the script does seem to have a few flaws with the motivations and contradictions in a few of the characters.

Having said that that stories were interesting, The gayness Deyn character is a bit of a change and kept me interested once I got used to her and I think would have remained interesting for a few more series.

I do think it is a pity they are not making at least series two or three especially if the sci-fi of the 'Hard Sun' would have come more into play. I think in 10 years time when it is getting regular play on repeat channels this will become a cult not just because of some of it's faults that will be pointed out but because it was an enjoyable quote compulsive drama.

The British are great at writing crime, this serie is another proof of that. While crime is not usually my favorite genre, I do like Luther and that series comes from the hand of Neil Cross. Since this mini-serie is written by him too I decided to give it a go, and I wasn't disappointed.

Agyness Deyn, who plays the role of Elaine Renko, was originally a model before she got into acting. When I read that I almost couldn't believe it, because she puts down a very convincing performance, that seems to come natural to her. Her character is a tough cookie and it's definitely not one you'd like to pick a fight with. As we get further into the series we do see more depth added to her character, which makes her all the more interesting.

The other lead role is played by Jim Sturgess. He portrays the character of Charlie Hicks, a cop with a rogue edge but otherwise a good man. Or at least, he thinks he is, but the story itself leaves the viewer to make up their own mind about that.

And that is not the only issue on which the viewer gets to fill in the blanks. A lot is left unanswered, but not in an annoying way. Or at least to me it wasn't irritating, but some people may not like it. I however, think it was done in a good way and with a satisfying ending.

The writer, Neil Cross, has said he was interested in doing a fiver year story arc, but to the best of my knowledge the series hasn't be renewed. It's a shame, because it's rare to see doomsday genres combined with crime, and it's even more rare to see it being done with this level of quality.

I hope there will be a second season because there are several questions left open. I really liked the characters and I liked especially that within the main story there are several smaller stories around the main characters. I can only recommend this series and I hope for a sequel.