Class of '76

STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits

DI Tom Monroe (Robert Carlyle) is investigating a series of mysterious deaths that trace back to his old school mates.

This is an inspired, fairly intriguing made for TV film with a plot with twists and turns that mean you really have to pay attention to it. According to the press, Carlyle is sick and tired of the 'soullessness' of Hollywood and is keen to stay over here and make projects with more depth and meaning, so that can only be a good thing. Even though it does feel a little derivative at times of other serial killer films before it (The Silence of the Lambs springs to mind!) in ITV's 50th year, this is a pleasing piece of work indeed. ***

Robert Carlyle, yes him of Trainspotting, Full Monty, 28 Weeks Later, (this ten line minimum to get this review printed is a fecking joke for members who, like me, have been members for years)is one of my favourite actors, and he does a decent job in this slow-moving but at times stylish British detective thriller as DI Monroe.

Story wise, it's not as good as the best Inspector Morse stories, but it still grips you from beginning to end, some scenes are quite frightening, it's well shot and edited.

The script isn't perfect, how many times do they travel back and forth to London? Nevertheless if you see this DVD in your shop to buy or rent, it's worth a look.

As others have written, this thriller starts out as an enthralling and incomprehensible mystery. A young man appears to commit suicide after visiting the site where a classmate was murdered thirty years before. It seems he is haunted by the murder, or is he threatened by the murderer, who has never been caught? Robert Carlyle, who, as usual, gives an excellent performance, plays the detective investigating the mysterious death. However, the show spends a lot of time with spooky photography, revisiting the original murder, and with Carlyle driving up and down country lanes to the town where the murder was committed. We have the usual dimwit Chief Inspector telling him to back off, the somewhat clodhopping junior officer doing it all wrong, and Carlyle taking leave to continue with his investigation because of his obsession with the case. The second episode loses the plot a bit, and it becomes irritating as the plot becomes silly. It was an interesting mystery, well acted, but the end is more than a bit daft and I ended up not feeling very satisfied by it.

I thought the first episode was quite good, rather slow but the atmosphere created was creepy a touch of supernatural thrown into the mix. I couldn't wait to the see the last episode to see how it all panned out.

The second episode was complete rubbish i was so disappointed, normally anything with Robert Carlye in is good viewing. This was utter nonsense i felt cheated that i had wasted 3 hours on this.I kept waiting for something exciting to happen it was all rather dreary. The only good thing in it was Robert Carlye and thats only cos i think he's cute!

I wouldn't bother buying the DVD and if anyone buys it me its going straight on Ebay to be flogged

Class of 76 is a very good feature length drama, why on Earth would anyone start killing classmates?

It opens up very well, it's a dramatic start, a strong middle, but sadly a rather disappointing ending. It's a long time since I last saw it, but it holds up very well, it is slightly too long, it could have been edited to about ninety minutes or so.

Great acting, Carlyle and Skinner in particular do a great job.

Good, 7/10.