The Body Farm

It started badly but became quite compelling towards the end. Implausible in parts, with strange amateurish scientists and a lone detective inspector investigating a crime that would have had the book thrown at it in real life. Contrived characters. But an interesting plot and some good ideas. I shall watch the second episode before deciding whether it's worth it. My son was less impressed and I don't think he'll bother watching any more. As for me, I'm interested to see whether the cardboard cutout characters get fleshed out a bit in subsequent episodes. The quality of the plot is high, the script doesn't do it justice and the jerky direction left me cold in places, but still I watched it to the end so they must have something right.

I read the other reviews and agree with some of the negative comments (i.e. They aren't letting you get to know the characters; the voice over in beginning and end of the series; and wrapping things up in under an hour.

After binging "Waking the Dead" (fantastic series BTW) I liked the two part episodes because you begin to understand and feel for the characters, therefore becoming super involved in the story. Unfortunately that's where "The Body Farm" failed.

Good attempt and wish they could've gone one more season to try and make it work :(

With the cold case squad disbanded, Doctor Eve Lockhart takes up a new role, continuing the work on her body farm.

For me, Waking the dead is one of, if not the best of The Detective shows, it's now a good few years since it ended, and it still packs a punch, time has been kind to it, I always thought this would be an extension of that great show, it isn't.

It's decent, and definitely worth a look, but it's just a bit off, Eve feels like a whole new character, in Waking the dead, she was quirky, the outsider, here she's very much part of the main crowd, Oggy fulfils the quirky role, she's just lost something, not that I'm taking away anything from Tara Fitzgerald, her acting as always is spot on.

Episode four is particularly good, it does stand out, some of the others unfortunately, are just uninteresting.

I didn't particularly like Hale, he's no Peter Boyd, nor should he be, but Allen just didn't feel right in the part, he's a much better villain. Wunmi Mosaku was wasted here, her character was a little blank.

It doesn't surprise me that it only lasted a single series, it could, and should have been so much better.

6/10.

as a spin off from "waking the dead" simply one of the best and consistent BBC dramas ever i was expecting this to be somewhat better. clearly not by the same team that wrote waking the dead, this is a good idea for a series but poorly executed.

the episode plots are sound in principle, but the body farm scientists are supposed to be just that, scientists - so why are they doing interviews, involved with arrests etc? And the science is hardly integral to the episodes - we start off with a hook, but the rest of the episode involves lots of contrived and implausible police work by a lone detective, interviewing everyone either at the body farm or in public, backed up by moralistic team of clichéd scientists, who love to talk about what is right and wrong and throwing opinions (not scientific facts) around and who spend very little time doing what they might be expected to do, (a couple of DNA samples here and there, a couple of hairs found here and there), but what about the body farm itself, where we might expect that some of the research there might play a part in the unfolding episodes. well the body farm barely gets a mention, and plays little part in the science or plot unfolding.

there's little evidence to suggest this will be picked up for a second series!

I expected more from this BBC production. The acting was wooden and with so many off-point moments. A deaf character who needs to lip read, yet looking down or away when being spoken to, still fully grasping the dialogue. Fantastical leaps in forensic deduction with no supporting evidence. The scientists must be psychic as none of the evidence links up. So many stereotypes, the maverick policeman, the mad scientist off his meds and experimenting on himself, the feisty, femanist female scientist. Seriously. All in a backdrop of a dirty, run-down farmhouse turned laboratory/body farm. None of the scientific findings would be valid due to cross-contamination from the dirt and people living and eating in the labs. Truly toe-curlingly bad.