Imnozy

To anyone who recalls the series Darling Buds of May this can only be a disappointment.

Bradley Walsh has much of the cheekiness required to portray Pa Larkin, but either he or the producers left out the twinkle in the eye and the general joie de vie that David Jason brought to the character.

Why, oh why did they feel they had to make it "politically correct" by casting a black actor as Charlie? The rest of the casting is adequate...although (again) the character Mariette just doesn't have the air of fresh beauty, coupled with sexuality that Catherine Zeta-Jones brought to the role.

A reasonable effort, mildly entertaining, but not even a patch on the original much loved series.

Someone once said of Frank Sinatra that he would do anything for money. I can only assume that this description applies to the group of mainly excellent actors who performed in this grubby little story.

The rather tenuous connection between the loss of her own child apparently set off the sequence of events that took us back to the grisly happening in Crickley Hall many years ago. Flashbacks were on the whole handled clumsily, the supposed frightening occurrences were mostly ridiculous, rather than frightening (as I assume they were supposed to be) and it became increasingly difficult to understand who was who (in both the past and present). Although I now wish that I had followed my initial instinct and given up on it after the first episode, I stayed to the messy end and not for one moment did I feel scared/frightened (as I suppose the writers intended) - but disgusted that anyone should write such tripe (presumably for entertainment's sake). When it was over I was left with the thought that at least it kept people in work - but I would have very much liked to see their talents deployed elsewhere.

I stumbled on this program accidentally, had never heard of it - and fascinated by the mis-spelling of the place name as much as anything started watching it. It took a while for me to realise how funny it was - really hilarious in places.

Who cares if most of the characters are flawed, if violence and murder seem to crop up in every episode - that no matter what is thrown at him Johnnie manages to somehow get away with it - and comes out on top. The fact that it was made by Norwegians, starring mainly local actors and taking the Micky out of all things both Norwegian and American makes this a unique series - what is not to love.

I think the mix of Norwegian and English language is well handled - and have had no trouble at all with the subtitles.

I can hardly wait to see the next series - long may it reign!