Scott & Bailey

I couldn't stop until I've watched all 6 episodes in a row. Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp give a brilliant performance alongside the other cast. I loved that it's one of a few stories set from women's point of view, dealing with the professional and personal issues. I think we should have more of that. I can't judge if the work of police was shown true to life, but it definitely seemed more realistic than the 'bang-bang-case solved!' sort of shows. Scott and Bailey has cross-cutting plot lines, which also makes it more interesting to watch. I want to also point out the beautiful camera work. I hope for the next season!

Update for season 2. Could I love them more? I already can't wait for season 3. None of the characters is flat, even if they appear for a couple of minutes, the cases are still interesting, and I was glad that we also looked into not only Janet's and Rachel's personal lives, but of other characters too.

I don't know what others are watching but I'm an actor and I watch a lot of TV and Films (and have been in a lot as well) and this show which my wife and I just finished watching was amazing! Powerful women doing wonderful things without making a big deal out of gender is almost impossible to pull off and almost never happens in American TV. This is what Rizzoli and Isles could have been if they didn't have all the "funny" stuff and if they let their characters be true to themselves. This is what the Closer was at its best but finally I found the writing and the directing and the acting so much better in Scott and Bailey than well any other show of its type on TV on either side of the pond. Get a region free DVD and buy this series and tell me I'm not right. The relationships are sharp (better than Blue Murder which is also a good series) and the stories are valid and dark and the humor works cause it is not forced. The only Detective show I like better at the moment is Luther and it is not quite as good an ensemble show as this one. 10 stars easily

I am thrilled I stumbled upon the first series and episode on PBS! Its heads above any crime drama here in the States. I'm not sure I love it so much because the title characters are women and the boss is also a woman, but it helps! Can't wait until the 3rd series! Hope to see it on my PBS station nit long after it airs in the UK. I've been an avid watcher of shows from Britain. I do not really watch much of shows here. Crime dramas in the US are full of violence, blood and just seem to be going for the shock factor, no substance. Granted Scott and Bailey had their fair share of some blood, but necessary to the plot. Inspector Lewis, Poirot, Wallander, and Morse focus on the process not the gore. I beg of you to allow our PBS channels get the next set of episodes as quickly as possible! Thank you

... cop dramas have a great tendency to follow a formula script, and as a result after several seasons usually become tedious and boring, and audiences continue watching them mostly out of habit... Scott & Bailey is the huge exception to the rule, and I'm positive that those knowing just how good a program this is they're watching, want it to continue on indefinitely... there's actor after actor in this marvelous series that consistently do outstanding work.. and for it all to end, well, would just be criminal (pi)

.. it's one of the ironies that when it looks so easy, an enormous amount of talent and effort on all sides make it appear that way... all involved are producing top flight work, and deserve all the accolades they get.. watching Doctor Foster turned me on to one of the leads in this series... soooo glad I did... the final season was short.. and once again extremely good... know they wished to go out 'on-a-high'.. but this is another series that will be sorely missed.

I have seen only two episodes so far of season 1, but already it looks like this female detectives duo is the among the best, definitely the best of the season. The chaotic private lives of DI's Janet Scott and Rachel Bailey and the solving of the cases are presented in a perfect mix. An especially good point: we are off dead bodies and CSI-like gore (at least for the first two episodes). They still exist, of course, but off-screen. The details are related to us in indirect ways, through the cops' case meetings, the questioning of suspects, conversations in cars, and walk-with-me talks. What we do see instead are the consequences of the crimes committed: We see them in the faces of wonderful hugely talented actors that fill even the tiniest role. It makes up more than enough for the only grievance I have: spoiled by the lavish period production of Inspector George Gently I was hoping to see more of the Yorkshire landscape.