Wolf

I like Mo Hayder's books, and although Wolf wasn't her best work, the source material was much better than this, it at least had a couple of moments of brillance. This has none. It starts ok but only gets worse. The added characters are poor. Caffery is unlikeable, uninteresting, and his pain and anguish carry no real weight or emotion, which couldn't be more different to the books and is probably the biggest failure of this show. Both the acting (stilted) and the screenplay (flat) are to blame for this failure. The 2 actors playing the "baddies" do a great job but this storyline unfortunately gets unbelievable pretty quickly (same as the book).

I going against the grain so far and saying I really enjoyed this, although I've only seen the one episode. There's some nicely over-the-top Inside Number 9 style black comedy behind the genuine suspense and horror, and, although the whole thing is quite baffling, I'm looking forward to seeing more. The two local "detectives" are hilariously sinister, there's some genuinely funny lines of dialogue, and it'll be interesting to see how the three main plot lines fit together. If indeed they ever do.

Ignore the predictable anti-beeb bias you always get from certain comments here and give it a go. You may enjoy it, you may not.

Wolf: Yet another troubled detective. DI Jack Caffery becomes is obsessed with the neighbour he believes murdered his 10 year-old brother 25 years ago. He sits and sleeps in an attic bedroom watching the neighbour's house, his GF is getting tired of this. He even moved back from Monmouthshire after the neighbour was released from prison (he was in for other crimes). Meanwhile back in Monmouthshire a family are put through an odd ordeal. It seems to be related to a double murder which took place 5 years before. After a run in with the neighbour Jack is put on leave and ends up back in Monmouthshire where he helped in investigate the killings, naturally his personal life is complicated there as well. Dark, compelling, after two episodes I;m hooked. Based on a Mo Hayder novel. Six episodes on BBC1/iPlayer. Directed by Lee Haven Jones & Kristoffer Nyholm, screenplay by Megan Gallagher. 8/10.

I more often than not abandon many a series because they simply fail to hold my attention. This one kept me watching! The characters are interesting and quirky and the story moves along at a fast pace with no time for boredom to take hold. I've watched the first two episodes and at this point I'm eagerly awaiting the next .

I'm not overly keen on Ukweli Roache's portrayal of Caffrey which is quite flat and weak but other than him the cast are very engaging. The Anchor -Ferrers' and the home invaders are played superbly with a darkly comic slant and horrible as the baddies are you can't look away. I'm not sure why there are so many poor reviews ~ In my view this is very watchable.

I agree with the other reviewers that said it doesn't translate well. If you're a fan of Mo Hayder's books, you would agree that the portrayal of Jack Caffery is completely wrong. For one, he's much older and way more experienced in the books. I also agree that they should have started with his first book. The Running Man character is confusing unless you've read the books, also the sub-plot of his missing brother and the neighbour is given very little context in the screen series. This has been a running theme in the books that has kind of annoyed me as it deviates from the main storyline too much.

Whilst it was not a patch on the books however, I really did enjoy the series. I disagree that the acting was bad, I thought it was superb. The fake policemen used dark humour that I thought added to the overall perversity. The twists were shocking and believeable once everything came together at the end.

A little slow around episodes 3-4 but it picks up momentum again in episode 5 and by episode 6, it ties up all lose ends and is a shocking thriller overall.