The Lakes

More than 10 years on since it was first made i still love to watch this. I own it on DVD and have also seen the re runs on BBC3. I could watch it over and over again. I love the atmosphere of the series, the beautiful setting and the acting has to be the best I have seen on TV in a mini series ever. Because of how series 2 is set and some of the bad events in it, it almost makes Cumbria seem a scary setting and it gives it a lovely dark atmosphere. Agreed series 2 can seem more soap than story in places but not overly. I love the hotel scene where its set, I have even visited the hotel and had a ride on the Ullswater, but not actually had chance to see room 34! Chef has to be one of the best characters ever in a series and played wonderfully! Yes it is far fetched in places, but its wonderfully entertaining and addictive, you watch one episode and you have to see them all!!

Let's just say that McGovern has done a great job in creating a story about how a small community can be influenced by a horrifying incident. The first season is brilliant. I loved the withheld ( often sexual) tension between the characters and the way how they appeared as persons you might meet in reality. The second season isn't bad, but it's just too long for its own good. There are too many uninteresting side-tracks about boring characters. Also, I couldn't quite relate to some of them anymore, they felt too much as made up caricatures. Though at some occasions it does reach the level of the first one, as a whole it's very disappointing. They'd better made it into 4 or 5 episodes instead of the 10 it eventually got.

This remarkable series has already been repeated on Australian television, and as far as I'm concerned it can be repeated each year, and nothing will come anywhere near it. The sharpness of Jimmy McGovern's script, the breathtaking performance by John Simm, the direction of David Blair, and the awesome landscape of the Lake District form the foundation of this 4-part series.

There are many layers and sub-texts to this story. My family were still discussing it for months after the first viewing. Not all the decisions made by the characters in this story will be popular with viewers, but they are realistic indeed. So realistic that one is likely to feel uncomfortable with the result.

As a rites of passage tale, "The Lakes" is almost mythological in its strength, gritty realism, and impact.

I look forward to the further work of this remarkable writer.

Jimmy McGovern's terrific mini-series contains arguably one of the single most haunting images in modern TV, as Danny Kavanagh (played strikingly by John Simm) staggers out of the icy lake bearing the first of the drowned girls. Although nothing else (perhaps inevitably) sticks in the mind to QUITE the same degree, McGovern's writing & Simm's performance help create one of the sharpest British serials of recent years.

Firstly the only reason I gave it an 8 was because i felt the sequel really let the first series down, it was good, just not amazingly good. There's so much great acting in this show and the writing for the first series is equally as good, which is all you need for a brilliant show. From the first episode there is so much emotion and it really hits you hard in the chest, I really began to feel the whole sense of loss of the whole community.

The second series is a lot more like a soap, various plots, constantly changing from household to household without as much hard hitting emotion from the first series. For a soap it is very good but soaps aren't really my cup of tea I'd prefer it to focus on fewer plots and expand on them.

I genuinely recommend this show to anyone.(well maybe not young kids/teens because of all the violence and sex etc.)