Black Work

Broadchurch set such a high standard that everything after it was difficult even to come close. This is OK, but more of an amateur show, and the direction is terrible. The "local" accents are a bit over the top and irritating. I like some of the actors when I saw them in other shows, but in this show, they all seem to have taken an amateur pill. The lead actress is OK but keeps overacting with her facial expressions, or perhaps it's the camera work that looks deficient. There is a scene in episode 2 where she and another detective is coming down an escalator and her facial expressions are very weird! She is supposed to be upset, but her face looks like she is laughing! Andrew Knott is particularly irritating, and his outbursts were terrible.

The writing is inferior, and the direction is lacking and low standard. Put all that with the dark atmosphere and continual bad weather scenes, and you have achieved the complete opposite of a Blue-Sky Drama. I feel you should be somewhere in the middle. Maybe we are all getting bored with this Nordic style dark real-life drama! The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was such a breakthrough and brilliant. If you were to watch that movie and then watch Broadchurch, Line of Duty, Bodyguard, Luther then this.... You will have fallen off a cliff! If you want something to watch while you are ironing it will do, but don't hold your breath!

For decades, the UK has produced so many high-class crime dramas, that it is impossible to "shoot without fail" all the time. Tastes develop, as well as circumstances, and viewers may move beyond the approaches and issues they used to like in Poirot or Morse, for example, or have begun to like "new age" in the form of Luther or Prey... Black Work is a kind of related mix, but worrying and grief overshadow other elements, including credibility, several male performers are too look-a-like, and the final 20 minutes or so add unnecessary sophistication.

True, Sheridan Smith as P.C. Jo Gillespie is catchy and the background realism is up there, but I am able to "blurt out" dozens of more interesting (mini)series I have seen in recent years. To me, Black Work is more a long film than series, and when you see all 3 episodes in a row, you could realise that many scenes and dialogues could have been more compact.

Don't like to compare this series with others; yes, there are (many) police procedurals that are more realistic but I don't mind suspending reality once & a while for a nicely done show. I found the main character a bit flat & almost a bit unlikeable & I agree that a couple of the supporting officers looked enough alike to cause some confusion as to exactly who was doing what. And I agree that a shorter format might have worked better as there was much repetition that slowed the story down. Though I wasn't aware when choosing this show, I was pleased to see Phil Davis & Douglas Henshall, 2 of my favorite British actors, in the cast.

Not high drama, but watchable.

This show didn't bother me like it seemed to bother others. :) It wasn't brutal (I can't watch brutal), it was interesting, and I thought the acting was fine across the board. I didn't love the lead character, but she was sympathetic. The kids were both good, and the boy was not rebellious, he was sweet, not sure why someone said that. There were a few jumps in the plot but I'd go back 10 seconds (great button on the Acorn app!) and get enough info. I watch a lot of UK cop/detective shows and this fit well within what I like.

Not wanting to repeat what others have already identified, all I want to say is that whoever is the police liaison for procedure should get a health size nine in the spuds. I have waited, for years, for a police drama to be made with accurate procedure unfortunately this is not it. For all you none police out there who believe what you see police do in this and other so called police dramas..... you do not salute you're chief super or Chief Constable during a normal working day,, you do not GET PROMOTED to CID. We do not sneak up on suspects with sirens blaring, we do not run sneak up on suspects on foot and shout them to stop 100 metres away we do not arrive at a police station with lights and horns blaring.....God give me strength.