Single Father

okay, fist: I love David Tennant, reason I saw this. Second: I only saw one episode. So perhaps it gets better. But the melodrama in the first episode was just too much for me. The acting is way lower than normal BBC television. The story could have been so good. But I couldn't detach to the characters because the total over the top acting. That mustn't be the fault of the actors. It is in the script and the directing and everything together is just not very good. The only performance I liked was the one of the oldest daughter, Natasha Watson as Lucy. Probably a movie for David Tennant fans, and teens and grans on holiday. But this is definitely not David Tennant at his best.

This is one part brilliant drama and one part melodrama but being only four episodes, let it take you on its journey.

The writing is very good; not perfect, but very good. But it wouldn't be enough without good acting and I must say, David Tennant excels at portraying grief. Never have I held my husband's hand so tightly! Having experienced loss through sudden accident, the character of Dave certainly echoed my experience - an experience that led to PTSD rather than love but my life wasn't TV. Perhaps it is because we cry 'in the same way' but Tennant's portrayal of stiff upper lip and hidden, catastrophic grief did it for me. My husband was wary of watching the second episode because he was feeling fairly traumatised by the first!

The child actors are great, the character of Robin is portrayed by Mr. Heap in a suitably dithery manner that makes one love him, and the visceral hurt felt by the satellite of supporting characters rings true.

The ending was fairly convenient and a diminution of what had gone before but, well, it was hard to imagine any other outcome after some subtle twists and turns.

All in all - time well spent.

The script had the actors jumping all over the place and the editing was choppy and chaotic. This made watching a chore. The confusion was just too much and led to a lack of engagement with the story. Gave up after the first episode.

I really liked this. The story was well-paced and the main character was flawed enough to be relateable. The kid-actors were fantastic and the silent grief of Dave was completely believable. There are probably better stories out in the world, but this one was relateable and interesting, with quite an interesting storyline for the teenage daughter so it wasn't purely focused on the grief.

I won't give 10 stars because there are some things that weren't to my personal liking, but throughout a solid 8

Amazing, emotional show. Big props to the full cast especially the boy who plays Ewan. Top notch.