An t-Eilean

This was such an exciting prospect - a flagship Gaelic drama, set in one of the most dramatic, atmospheric landscapes in the world, and told in the poetic and evocative Gaelic language. It should have been a game-changer but instead we got a series of creaking old cliches that would have been out-of-date 20 years ago.

As a murder-mystery it completely failed, with glaring plot holes and a laughably-inept police investigation.

The dialogue was just Daytime Soap-level melodrama translated into Gaelic. Out of four hours of dialogue there's literally zero quotable lines. There are also zero memorable characters because there's no character development. The dialogue is largely there to help grind out the plot, not to reveal any character depth, detail or colour.

The landscape shots are stunningly-beautiful but we can see amazing Hebridean landscape footage on youtube without having to sit through awful drama.

What's so frustrating about this show is that as the first big budget Gaelic drama, it should have been bulletproof, with a script stress-tested to destruction (especially a murder-mystery which requires meticulous plotting).

So much of the dreadful dialogue, tired tropes and plotting errors shouldn't have made it beyond the first draft. But they did, and because of that it will be a long time before another major Gaelic drama gets made, and that's a great shame.

As this Gaelic language drama opens Sir Douglas McClean, one on the wealthiest men in Scotland, calls his children to tell them that in intruder has shot him and his wife. The police arrive at their castle on the Isle of Harris, in the Outer Hebrides, and find him wounded but his wife is dead. Officer Kat Crichton, who left the islands ten years previously is tasked with being the Family Liaison Officer. She assures her boss, DCI Ahmed Halim, that there won't be any problems returning to her old home... but it soon becomes apparent that she has crossed paths with the family before and has reasons to dislike them. As the story progresses we learn more about what is going on within the family and Kat's issues with them.

I thought this series was rather enjoyable. It might be looked at as 'Shetland with Subtitles' given its Scottish island setting. The central mystery is solid although having our protagonist having past problems with the victim's family felt a bit forced; the mystery could have been just as intriguing without it. The characters are solid enough and there are plenty of suspects... at the half way point I was unsure as to who would ultimately be revealed as the killer, or more importantly the motive. The Harris setting, with its rugged mountains, sea lochs and beautiful empty beaches was a delight; I'm sure the local tourist board will love their corner of the country being shown off! Overall I'd recommend this to fans of the genre looking for a new location for their murder mystery fix. I've no idea if more of this is planned but if it is I'd certainly watch.

These comments are based on watching the series in Gaelic with English subtitles.

Beautifully shot, scripted and acted - a really fabulous and gripping 4 part series. Definitely worth watching. Warning - addictive and hard to watch only one episode at a sitting.

If you watch this you may feel sorry for the lack of joy emanating from some of the less effusive reviews . Each to their own of course - but if you enjoyed murder mystery series as a youngster, if you remember the early days of intrigue enjoying something like Agatha Christie, smiled at Bergerac or Inspector Morse - then this is the modern (better) equivalent.

Being shot in Gaelic and the subtitles adds something new and different to a non-Gaelic speaker and far from detracting, somehow adds authenticity and draws you in. Great watch. Well done the BBC for commissioning this.

Interesting crime drama, right out of the Nordic noir playbook, set in the Outer Hebrides. Compelling plot, good acting, stunning scenery and the absolute novelty of being Gaelic speaking for the most part. This aspect is quite refreshing and indeed intriguing as the setting of the drama feels both familiar and otherworldly. It feels like it could be a set in Norway or Iceland given we have to follow the dialogue via subtitles but then there is a lot of familiarity about the setting. Plus the characters throw in quite a bit of English when speaking to each other. It's not without flaws. For example, it tries to squeeze too much into the four episodes. It might have been better to have given each of the protagonists an episode of their own in which their back stories could have been explored more deeply.

What's most disappointing about this series is the lack of ambition. They tried to do a mash-up of 'Scandi Noir' and old Bergerac-style shows and ended up with neither, instead of making something fresh with its own identity, based on the unique language and environment.

Scandi Noir worked brilliantly because it wasn't trying to copy another genre. It also worked brilliantly because it was (mostly) based on excellent, successful novels, so they were already building on a strong foundation.

This series is based on an 'amateur dramatics' script which borrows from tired old shows that went off-air years ago. Scandi Noir also had tight, expert plotting, not the rambling, error-strewn 'first draft' feel of this effort.

There's no attempt to capture the pitch-black Highland Scottish humour that people - especially police - use to cope with grimness and tragedy. That would at least have given it some believability, some character and would also have distinguished it from the generic old shows it's trying (and failing) to copy.

While many detective shows have a humourless intensity, that can work brilliantly if you have compelling dialogue and a taught, intense script, whereas this is just everybody glowering and sighing and delivering cliches that sound overwrought and hammy.

I hope the next Gaelic drama tries to make something unique and original. You don't need a million quid an episode, just a decent script and the passion to make something that stands on its own, not a bad version of other old genres.