The Syndicate

I've just finished watching the final episode of this excellent series. I have been impressed throughout with the acting and the brilliant scripts. Being from Leeds myself I was particularly impressed with the accents although a slight hint of Lancashire from a few of them but overall it was not like Coronation Street or Emmerdale which seem to have very strong Yorkshire or Lancashire accents in the wrong counties. The plot of the whole story was brilliant and believable of what may happen with people in that position. Timothy Spall was brilliant as usual but Mathew Lewis and Mathew McNulty played brilliantly brothers. Kay Mellor I don't think can do anything wrong and I feel a lot of pride in the fact she is a Leeds lass but I hope I'm not too biased because I think people up and down the country could relate to this story and it's characters.

This is one of the worst written, worst acted, and most sophomoric programs I have ever seen. Every single line, every element of backstory, and every character is so predictable that it feels like a 12-year old wrote it. Add to that a soundtrack of smarmy, imitation pop music, and it makes the perfect stew of intellectual diarrhea. A decent premise gone completely wrong.

This is a typical bit of light entertainment about groups of people who formed syndicates, and won the lottery. The series explore, and dramatize the characters, and how their lives changed after winning. There are the usual story lines with intrigue, personal secrets, struggle between good and evil, all the necessary elements for this type of show. Some of the acting is better than others but at other times it's just overdone. The portrayal of the "idiot savant" gardener in series 3 by Lenny Henry is a case in point. Just seemed to be a poor copy of Dustin Hoffman in Rainman. The actors do get the Midlands accents right and that helps introduce the feeling that winning the lottery does happen for the ordinary folk. If you just want a bit of light TV with a story that has a good dose of predictability, and "feel-goodness" in it, then the series will work for you. The concept does lend itself to repeat series, and so far there have been 3 seasons. Overall, it's not terrible but also not great TV!

Another TV play from the stable of Kay Mellor who seems to have been off our screens for a while. Very promising start to what looks like being a tight drama set in Leeds. Interesting premise with background stories of five supermarket workers,all of whom have financial problems of their own,panning out to lead us to the "big win" that they are all involved in. Excellent performances from an ensemble cast,as is usual with Kay's dramas, but special praise to Timothy Spall who never disappoints,in my opinion.The locations are believable as is the script which is "gritty" without being dour.Left me waiting with anticipation for the next episode with enough to have whetted my appetite.

The first 2 series were very well written, great actors and a good plot, series 3 a little bit meh but series 4!!!!! Bad script, bad plot, bad casting feels like it should be on children's tv. Completely unbelievable story. Very disappointed.