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This show is a pleasant surprise, at least the first season. After reading the exceedingly negative first review here I wasn't expecting much. The first three episodes, which comprise season 1, are quite interesting. The casts are first rate, with familiar faces from other shows. The acting is good. Kevin Whately comes off well and is more three-dimensional than his character in "Lewis." The show is a combination of intriguing investigative mystery with some domestic drama and romantic entanglements. Admittedly, Whately is not really believable as a babe-magnet.

A noticeable drop-off in quality in the second season - some of the story lines are silly. Try season 1 and approach season 2 with caution.

We watch Acorn TV all the time, and have been watching British shows almost daily for about 17 years. Thankfully we 'stumbled' on this show, "The Broker's Man recently. Besides Kevin Whately looking like a cousin of Paul McCartney, he is a great actor and brings energy to the show. We've watched three 90 minute episodes so far now and we DO NOT find it boring in the least. Even though he is an insurance man, there is often a murder or two involved and incorporates subplots as well. We are still scratching our heads on why they only made 2 seasons. We did notice that it was co-produced by Brian True-May who also produced Midsomer Murders. which, coincidentally, started the same year as the Broker's man did. Maybe that had something to do with it.

I would not say this is as good as Midsomer Murders, BUT This show IS A very good and is definitely worth a watch.

Having just watched all six episodes of this show and also watching "Morse" and "Lewis", I feel compelled to write a review. It's not clear to me why this appeared to be a good vehicle for Whately, who is so obviously born to play a copper. The insurance investigator angle does give them an opportunity for more plot variety, but they rarely take advantage of it. Things usually devolve to a murder case which is solved in the requisite 1-hour time period.

So what's good about it? The acting is fine. All the characters are capable actors and actresses. Even with a change in some of the cast with season two, the losses and additions even out and the ensemble still works. Almost all of the plots are interesting and most of them make some kind of sense. This is all good.

Now the bad... the Jimmy Griffin character is saddled with not just a girlfriend, but also a wife and two kids. While not fatal to a show like this, it turns out not to add very much either. In particular, the writers had no clue about how to handle his wife's role. In each episode she is given a different clichéd script. First the angry, jealous wife. Then in later episodes the "why can't you have a regular job" role, then "how dare you endanger my children" and finally to neutral bland housewife. There is no consistency or logic to any of her actions. In each episode she is a different character! I'm amazed she was able to handle it as well as she did.

For us Kevin Whately fans these are worth a look, don't be put off by the first episode which includes a lot of the wife screaming and domestic tribulations, nor by the last episode which appears not to have had proper writers at all. But on the whole you'll come away wishing they had skipped this show and done a couple more "Lewis" episodes.

I enjoyed it. It is not a "mystery" series and it's not meant to be. But it is enjoyable escapism......with clean language and content for a change!

Kevin Whatley disappoints in this boring and lame series featuring an insurance investigator. Nothing works in this series. It has unresolved plot lines and overall bad acting. And, its theme tune which is so evidently a ripoff from 'careless whispers', is just plain bad. Lasting just 2 seasons, this show is also badly directed and contains more domestic drama than actual mystery.

This show is nothing like Morse or even Lewis. As an investigator, Griffin is clueless. This only reason why Whatley stills gets roles is because of Morse's legacy.

I would not recommend this series.

2/10