Better

Well worth a watch. People saying the acting is poor are speaking too broadly. Most performances are good, except the cop's son who is not great. Anton Lesser is excellent as the retired bent cop; but then he is always good. It is a good story, some complexity to the characters, nobody is one dimensional. I don't really understand the really low raters. Not sure why Anton Lesser does not even feature in the IMDB cast list as he is the best thing in it. I didn't feel the accents were forced, I don't think any of the actors were using anything but their normal speaking voices. Make your own mind up.

If it wasn't for the ending I'd score this at a 7, I finished the entire thing in just two days and had very high hopes.

Unfortunately the ending is bad, REALLY bad. There is no world in which this would happen... I've no idea what the writers were thinking.

It does well to keep you watching though and all be it until the very last scene it kept me interested and wanting more.

Anton Lesser was my favourite character by miles, Leila Farzad not so much, her character seems forced. A few elements throughout are silly and unrealistic but this goes for 90% of TV.

Give it a watch and make your own mind up.

The only thing wrong with Better is that the BBC pitched it as "the new Happy Valley". And because they did, the show got a weird audience and critical reception.

Line of Duty is incredible, right? But if someone promised you Happy Valley and you sat down to watch Line of Duty, I don't think you'd like it much. That's what's happening here.

This isn't Line of Duty. It isn't Happy Valley. Better is in a category of its own, and it stands as tall as either of those shows do.

Leila Farzad is astonishing, like she is in everything. But this is a brilliantly written game of chess that has you emotionally invested in all the pieces on the board.

You haven't seen this character arc in a cop show, and you haven't seen this story in a drama before.

(Also, I don't know how you even begin to write a second season after that ending, but my god do I want to see it.)

The first 4 episodes were excellent, great production and acting all round. It wasn't anything new that hasn't been on before, hints of Line of Duty & Happy Valley storylines being woven in.

Also great to see Leeds having a huge part of the story, and about time West Yorkshire again got some screen time.

It's just the ending. I felt heavily let down as it built up to the final 10 minutes, as you kind of knew how it was going to wrap up. It could have gone many ways, but chose what now feels like an easy way out. It's worth a watch, only 5 episodes.

It just didn't get the ending it deserved in my opinion.

The list of VERY GOOD British police crime thriller series that I have seen is really long, unfortunately I will not add this one to that list.

Leila Farzad has the right appearance to portray Lou. She does a good acting job, one moment she is unapproachable and self-confident, but later maybe the viewer also sees the doubt and moral conflict shine through. I didn't saw and felt that at all, for me she is simply a terrible woman, selfish as hell. Let's be honest, come on!, will she continue to be corrupt or make a new beginning after an incident involving a loved one? There's no way you'd dance with the devil if you had a family to protect.

By the way, I loved all the actors.

In general I enjoy the series, but it also left me a little dissatisfied, and I would have loved a more realistic and rougher ending, something more creative and raw, simply what they deserve. Behind the plot I think there is a psychological study, can people change? In this specific case I would say NO.

To finish, I recommend you see it. The dialogues and tension are palpable, I must admit that at times it left me on the edge of the couch. Despite its many flaws.