Sexy Beast

The show grew on me as the episodes and story got flowing. A few things made no sense and the double cross is always on in this saga. IF you haven't seen the movie, you don't need to understand the plot here. The movie is solid setup to the movie characters. It's all classic gangster stuff. If you don't like fights, hot women, shootings, and crazy characters, this isn't the show for you. The violence is there, not gratuitous but it's a daily part of their world. Some amazing acting here. It's really a story about using others for your own needs.

It sets up the movie moments. Tamsin Grieg is brilliant as the controlling sister. Best part of the series is her manipulation. Sarah Greene, meh...just not voluptuous, sexy nor pretty enough to be the porn star. They dress her up but she doesn't have body to pull off the role. Sarah, sure she can act but not believable. It would have been better if she and Eliza Bennet has switched roles. Eliza is solid as the girlfriend lost in the clouds and can't see that Gal's a pretty bad boy. Eliza look more the DeeDee of the movie.

Stephen Moyer is another good ruthless guy who is out to make his move to the top using Gal and Don.

Our anti-hero Gal (James McArdle) just preens throughout...tough to cheer for his success. Way too much smiling and hair. Emun is brilliant as pycho Don. You know where all the capers are heading to set up the movie. It's a solid show to enjoy. I wouldn't even mind a 2nd of this.

I was so excited when I happened to stumble upon this series. I love the film and didn't even know that a prequel series was in existence until today. I always wondered what the characters got up to when they were younger.

The actor for Gal is excellent. The accent is a bit off but otherwise he's perfect. The actor for Don channels him well, he's a violent nutter but not yet quite the absolute beast that he ends up becoming. The casting for Aitch seems okay but he looks more like Teddy Bass than the actual bloke playing him. I didn't much like the actor for Teddy, he had the mannerisms down well and the voice but I thought his look was all wrong. The actor looks nothing like Ian Mcshane and I always imagined Teddy being more handsome than that when he was younger (nothing against the man but his very tiny mouth is distracting). I thought the actress playing Deedee was good but they should have given her contacts to get Amanda Redman's bright blue eyes.

I enjoyed the first episode, even the fan service of lines being ripped directly from the film. I think if the writers would have copied just one more line though it would have moved into corny territory.

The cinematography was decent, the acting was intentionally hammy in places but overall good, plenty of swearing and violence with a bit of comedy thrown in and as another reviewer wrote above, it doesn't take itself too seriously.

Recommended if you enjoy British gangster films or crime flicks in general.

Not quite sure why all the negative reviews, this is really quite fun. The main characters are well cast and do provide a good prequel to the Winston and Kingsley double act from the movie.

What this misses to get great marks is that it's not really a prequel in terms of characters. As regards storyline it fits nicely into the movie but the characterisation of, or should I say relationship between Don and Gal does not really set up the movie.

Ben Kingsley was amazing in his menace as a gangster in the original, a real oozing menace in everything he did. Don here gets the mannerisms and does have a good suggestion of menace in the future. Likewise Gal really does match well with Ray Winstone. However together the two don't match in the same way - it's hard to see how Gal can become so scared of Don in the film when here he seems to be on a par with him. Can't quite see the arc that goes from best friends to one being absolutely scared stiff of the other.

All that being said this is really good fun.

I'm really enjoying this series. It's interesting enough for me to wish I could see it all in one go.

The storyline is good and Tamsin Greig is a revelation, playing a totally different character to her usual type.

Deedee is at the heart and soul of this prequel and lights up the screen whenever she appears.

Teddy played by Stephen Moyer is a real nasty piece of work, but believable.

One particular scene with him in at a nightclub was horrific and I personally don't think that it was necessary. The character is menacing enough and I think that was overkill.

On the whole the series is so good I'm now in the process of watching the original movie the series is based on.

You can't really compare the two. Ray Winstone and Ben Kingsley are 2 huge character actors and nobody could be as good as they were.

However I would definitely recommend this series.

I began watching this show and later checked on the rating and was really amazed it being 5.8. Im finding the show very intriguing; from the character development as to what makes them tick, so to speak. This is definately on par with most average gangster shows. I mean its not the Sopranoes or Breaking Bad classic rating, but definately better that 5.8. I am confused as to why the hate for this show. I especially found Danny extremely interesting as well as his sister. The way everything caves in on the star is also very entertaining in a suspence nature. Also the whole dynamic of the bad guy is portrayed with an interesting twist. Idk, its not that bad really. In my opinion.