Winter

Contrary to other opinions here at IMDb, we found Winter to be a superb production, well-acted and well-written. British mysteries sometimes are heavily-weighed for character-development, leaving nifty plot developments as a secondary consideration. We haven't quite finished the series, but we are pleased that some mysteries are slowly coming to light, and others will be revealed in the final episode.

There's a nice bit of coincidence in the plot, a tool that can be used or overused. In this case, it ties some loose plot-ends together nicely and shows that the hunch of one key detective was off-base, a rare outcome in a mystery story. Rebecca Gibney is excellent as the lead detective 'Winter', very reminiscent in looks and style of Amanda Burton, from the British 'Commander' series (maybe a little prettier, and not so tragically-flawed).

WE caught this on Acorn TV - but we would part with the price of a DVD set to see it again.

There are two parallel plots that sometimes gets in the way of this otherwise engaging police procedural. The solid acting and direction is why I upped my rating from what I really think (6.5) to 7.0. The effort to keep both the local and federal investigations in the center of the story often creates tangents that dilute the suspense. Also, the police in both camps commit mistakes that I don't believe would happen in real life but are used here to simply insert action and use up time. Minor flubs made me shake my head such as why a criminal would mount the timer for a car bomb in full view on the dashboard. Or why a police artist's sketch of a suspect would not *immediately* be electronically circulated to all involved. However, despite these little things and the slightly irritating over-development of some peripheral characters whose demise and/or personal dramas serve little purpose, I wanted to follow this to the end because there were a few central questions to be answered. And, oddly, this was the first time I've been constantly distracted by an actor's mustache or non-mustache. What is up with Lachlan's unattractive shadow above his lips?

6 Episodes were a little tiring. 4 would have been much better with the cutting of some peripheral characters as the main plot alone was excellent.

The other thread was about drugs that to me was irrelevant and distracting.

The plot holes were irritating and obvious, particularly where the composite of a suspect was deleted from the police digital files. That would not happen.

Also a supposedly sharp cop left themselves wide open to being shot knowing there was a rogue cop of the loose.

Also speaking of rogue cops - why do they always take potential suspects/victims into their own homes for protection? And never being charged? See also rogue cop-informant not being charged either.

The side romances also distracted. Seems like this crew of cops are a hotbed of barely suppressed and unsuppressed sexuality. None of it quite believable.

Winter is an enjoyable character. Would like to see more of her and less of her hairy love interest.

On Acorn.

8/10.

*sigh* Well I was hoping to cove something else in my first review but I suppose this will have to do.

I think it's biggest problem is quite simply the fact that it's no different than EVERY OTHER POLICE DRAMA EVER! Well apart from the Australian accents (although it does remind me a little of City Homicide back from 2011 and seems to suffer from dullness, anyway I digress).

Almost all of the scenes contain the protagonist played by Rebecca Gibney and a lot of the series would rest on her acting ability. Well... it's not bad, but she's trying so hard to be the tough independent female that her character seems to be a little bit of a mary sue just because she's so one-note. Probably more of the writing and directing at fault to be honest and it's causing the lead role to perform in an almost satire of her character. Maybe her character will be more flushed out in the future but this should have happened in it's predecessor The Killing Fields.

I'm not sure why Channel 7 is trying so hard for this show to succeed putting it in a prime time slot but it saddens me that something with a little more spice could have been put there.

I'd probably would have criticised it a lot more if there was anything to criticise.

TL;DR It's bland, so bland it's hard to call bad. Even bad can be entertaining.

Being a fan of mostly UK and Scandinavian crime series, I sometimes like to widen my horizons and find out what other countries have to offer in a similar area. Prior to start watching Winter, I had some qualms regarding approach and possible easy solution, but it soon turned out to be a versatile story having its twists and turns throughout the 6 episodes.

True, there were some common leitmotifs and predictable character relations, but as I did not surmise the wrongdoer and potential crime motives, I am pleased that I took/found approx. 5 hours for this Series.