Exile

Exile did look very interesting, and of course I'd watch anything with Jim Broadbent in it. But in all honesty, I was not expecting it to be this good. Exile was both an intense and moving drama and actually one of my personal favourites of this year so far. It is beautifully and stylishly filmed, the story really gripped and moved me and the writing is superb, while it is always reflective and involving with the more intense parts genuinely so it also makes some good relevant points without feeling too unsubtle. The direction is also very good, it helps move the drama along nicely-Exile I found very well-paced from the start- and some of the camera shots are among the best I've seen in any drama so far this year. The characters are also very rich and well-written and realised, especially with Nancy and you do feel a lot of sympathy for Sam too. The acting is outstanding, here John Simm breaks away from his typecast persona and delivers a more gritty, hard-nosed and intense performance which he does splendidly. Olivia Colman has a ball playing her rich character and Shaun Dooley and Timothy West are great to watch. But special mention has to go to Jim Broadbent, based on personal experience Broadbent's portrayal of an Alzheimers-sufferer is just heart-wrenching. All in all, brilliant drama with outstanding acting and strong emotional impact, not to mention a harrowing ending which profoundly affected me even long after the drama was over. 10/10 Bethany Cox

As a directional country in creating versatile crime dramas, the UK has contributed and will contribute so many quality stuff than one is bound to start selecting and comparing, based on taste, habits and many other factors. Here, in Exile, the biggest value for me were 2 leading performances - Tom Ronstadt (John Simm) and Sam Ronstadt (Jim Broadbent) - whose versatility and switching ironed out some clichés and over-sophistication in the plot. I have discovered the talent of both Simm and Broadbent long time ago, but it is still please to ascertain that they have not confined themselves to comparable characters and roles approach.

As for the plot, some scenes seemed excessive, some supporting character changes weird, plus it was difficult to follow the events in different periods at times. Neverthess, Exile is another work of quality, excelling most counterparts created e.g. in the US or Australia. Unless you have painful personal experience with Alzheimer's disease, this miniseries is definitely a pleasant spending of ca 3 hours.

A prime candidate for a 'If you've been affected by any of the issues raised in this programme' tag, Exile sees Simm's disgraced hack flee to his Lancashire hometown for the first time in 18 years, to discover his once idolised reporter dad destroyed by Alzheimer's – along with a hideous buried scandal.

Befitting the title, both father and son are exiles – from their careers, from sense, from truth; here, investigative reporting makes a fine metaphor for a crusade against the corruption of memory, and the pursuit of identity itself.

Essentially a three-hander between Simm (cornering the brooding everyman corner), the wonderful Colman (playing it straight) and the mighty Broadbent, the latter's portrayal of this terrible condition must be among the most devastatingly accurate ever placed on screen. Shocking and extremely moving, with a final scene that's – ironically – quite unforgettable.

In this unique tale of a man whom has fallen from the graces of high flying London, comes a story of one man's endeavour to uncover the truths surrounding his native hometown and the circumstances that forces him to leave and become a different man. After spending the majority of his life running from his past Tom Ronstadt (John Simm), decides that running is no longer an option. This story highlights some very true realities surrounding Alzheimer's disease and the heartache that families must deal with in regards to those effected. Spanning from personal experience Jim Broadbent plays the character affected with pin-point accuracy and gives the character more edge than has ever been seen with his more lovable characters. Simm does also not disappoint with his new break from typecasting, his take on the washed out son is more intense than we have seen of him in a long time. This truly is a piece of gritty drama that will define the year.

This is a high quality, dark psychological drama, with the odd blackly comic moment thrown in, and well worth spending 3 hours on. It's beautifully shot with some stunning locations, and the performances of John Simm, Jim Broadbent and Olivia Coleman (particulary John Simm) are utterly compelling.

John Simm's character, Tom, spectacularly messes up his life and career as a journalist in London, and goes back home to Lancashire. He finds his retired journalist dad, whom he idolised as a child, to be suffering from dementia and being cared for by his sister. It turns out he had a sudden, violent and catastrophic falling-out with his dad many years ago which led to him fleeing to London, and now he is back home he becomes determined to get to the bottom of what happened to cause the fall-out. This proves more complicated that he thought, mainly due to his dad's mental capacity - however by the end, he does manage to piece the devastating truth together, and as with all the characters John Simm plays in such a believable, 'everyman' way, we root for him the whole time, even though his character is not saintly by any means.

My only beef with this would be that the script and plot do contain some real clichéd moments, and you do have to suspend a bit of disbelief about how relatively easy it is for Tom to locate some of the key characters and certain bits of information about the past. That being said, it's the excellence of the actors' performances that totally clinch this for me.

If, like me, you're a fan of Mr Simm, you will not be disappointed in this.