The Interceptor

Leads to expect real gripping stuff, but fails on every level. Insultingly stupid occurrences, poor acting and a plot that just leaves you feeling you have wasted another hour of your life. initially looked really good, and then you know it is falling apart, when a stupid scene containing a fight results in the "Hero" crashing through a glass wall of a walkway over a motorway. Yep, those glass wall walkways are just normal glass, so they expect us to believe. I have now watched 4 of these in anticipation of something good, but nothing improves,in fact it gets worse. If you have nothing better to do, give it a try and see for yourself.

Come back Bonekickers, all is forgiven.

The publicity for this show made reference to The Professionals and Spooks. Ash is a committed customs officer who is frustrated by his bosses reluctance to go after the big fish. He is someone who as a kid saw his drug addicted father kill someone.

A former colleague introduces him to the head of a shadowy surveillance unit called the Unit which pursues some the most ruthless criminals like Trevor Eve who cheats at golf and threatens committee members in the nineteenth hole.

Two episodes in and The Interceptor is badly written drivel and it never improved by the final episode. Clichéd characters, even the casting looks uninspired with a lead that gets mistaken for Craig David.

The only plus side is that the chase scenes looked good.

This series may become worth watching and I found it OK for a first episode. The basic idea is interesting and it may develop well.

The acting of the lead character isn't of the best quality as his petulant storming around is more akin to a 13-14 year old having a paddy than a professional detective/ customs officer.

However, the suggestion of another reviewer that the IT abilities are 'way beyond capabilities' is farcical. They are speaking without any knowledge. I worked in an IT surveillance role years ago and reality was beyond those 'capabilities' many years ago.

So back to the series. Directing is poor and lets unrealistic acting rule. The characters may develop well as may the story lines.

I would suggest that you watch it and give it a chance. It is entertaining.

The first of a new 8 part BBC crime-drama series centring on a young, idealistic but ultimately frustrated field-based HM Customs Officer who burns his bridges with his employer when a drugs bust goes wrong, severely injuring his partner and best mate. Nevertheless, he soon finds himself enlisted into a somewhat shadowy parallel Drugs Intelligence Agency who work covertly, it would appear sometimes inside, sometimes outside the law, with their own "Snoopers Charter" to listen in on any and apparently every phone-call made in the UK.

Once you get past the awful series title which makes it sound like some Will Smith-type action-fest, I quite enjoyed it. The series continuity will undoubtedly come from the Unit's pursuit of the drug world's Mr Big, played by Trevor Eve, but I anticipate several time-honoured moral dilemmas, shoot-outs and stake-outs, not to mention family dramas as our talented but headstrong hero gets out there in the job he was made for.

Resemblances to any other BBC show featuring a black male lead with Holmes-like deductive skills, total dedication to the job and Duracell-type energy and stamina are probably coincidental, but putting the Lutheran connection to one side, this could be the Beeb's best crime series since then.

O.T. Fagbenle as the lead Ash might lack Idris Elba's magnetism but he's believable from the start and should improve with increased familiarity, and is well supported by a supporting cast, which, Eve apart, appears to lack a big name, not that I'm complaining. With its topical story-lines and persuasive mixture of street-smarts and road chases this looks like it could be one to watch.

It looks like The Professionals aka CI5. It doesn't have chemistry like Bodie and Doyle or Starsky and Hutch. Busy, busy but no character development. Various periods of "plot discussion " mixed with violence. It doesn't elevate this show in any way. Little wonder that they only made a single season. If they wanted the longer season they should have had parallel storylines. Boring by E5. . The "boss" is annoying without being a source of wisdom. Trevor Eve plays a good role but is insufficiently used to maintain the tension. Everything could have been darker and more threatening. Could do better.