Close to Me

Maybe I move in the wrong circles, but I don't know any family that swears as much as that one. Got on my nerves after a while. The plot started off well, but missed the mark. I haven't read the book so I don't know if it was true to the original story.

I enjoy slow burn drama but this was excruciatingly dragged out. The characters never really took off - especially Christopher Eccleston's part - he seemed awkward and wooden, not helped by the uninspired writing. At most this is a four part, even three part drama. Consequently it was diluted and not in the slightest bit compelling - which is a crying shame because the synopsis and setting had great potential.

I just ifnished watching 6 hours of this and hoping with each episode for some real drama and excitement and what did we get?

A very limp drama with no surprises and a lacklustre and unsurprising zero twist in the tale ending.

Ecclestone weak and woefully miscast and just a waste of those 6 hours for zero payoff - If this is the standard; and it seems like it is, of British Drama these days, then we had maybe better just stop making it!

Adapted from a Kindle bestseller it tells the story of a woman recovering from a mystery fall which leaves her without memory of the last year or so. She has to try and work out what has happened in that missing period.

Pros - a good performance from Connie Nielsen in the lead role, fairly well made and watchable and a plotline with a lots of twists and surprises.

Cons - some wobbly and stilted direction and clunky dialogue (the interior monologue device didn't work for me at all). Sadly it got a bit daft and was a couple of episodes too long for its story.

Verdict: there's a lot of better dramas out there, it felt like style over substance and by the end I'd lost interest. Average.

We thoroughly enjoyed the series and were left guessing until the end, expecting a fantastic twist or big 'reveal', but disappointingly the end was much duller than we expected.

Unfortunately, the '8' we would have given the series has been reduced to a 6 because of this.