Four Lives

Grim true life crime told sympathetically with credible performances all round, of four family's fight for justice. Sheriden Smith and Stephen Merchant both looking very comfortable in their roles. You're left with equal measures of anger at the perpetrator of the horrific crimes and the incredible incompetence of the police.

A harrowing true story. The incompetencies of the Police make it seem unbelievable but by all accounts, it was the case. On the whole, well put together and the acting was good barring Sheridan Smith. Overly aggressive, unlikeable and couldn't even say her character's sons name properly. Regardless, I would still recommend.

Very good drama based on a recent true story

Excellent performance as per usual by Sheridan Smith and the surprise package of Stephen Merchant as the evil Port.

This is the kind of cop show we should see more often. In short, Four Lives is about cops NOT solving a series of murders. In fact, they not only fail to solve the crimes, they fail to even acknowledge that crimes have been committed. They fail to recognise the bumbling culprit whose cack-handed attempts at covering his tracks are entirely successful. They fail to see the most obvious of links between the four deaths. They even fail utterly at family liaison, thereby exacerbating people's grief and distress. It's a tale of incompetence, arrogance and homophobia that some viewers might find truly staggering. But as a former journalist I can attest that the cops in Four Lives are much closer to the vast majority of real-life cops than any of the TV detectives depicted in series after series, decade after decade. Pick almost any real life murder case and you're far more likely to uncover examples of prejudiced, lazy or less-than-bright cops making endless mistakes, corrupting crime scenes, missing evidence and blindly pursuing the wrong killer. All of which makes Four Lives a long overdue exercise in balance. Well done.

This is a really well-made story of how four young men were murdered by same man after meeting up through a gay dating website. It's a tale very much of the time we live in. It seems to me there's so many young people who are prepared to just meet complete strangers through social media, without really thinking of the potential consequences.

Sheridan Smith plays the mother of the first victim and as always she puts on a first class performance. As far as I'm aware this was Stephen merchants first straight role and deserves praise for the way he portrayed the evil sadistic killer, who claimed his innocence right up to the end. Well worth a watch particularly if like me you were previously unaware of this story. 8/10.