Finders Keepers

Channel 5 have been banging out a load of 4 part dramas with mixed results. Most have been crime dramas but Finders Keepers is more of a black comedy.

Fay Ripley who seems to be in all these C5 shows stars along side Neil Morrisey who along with his future son in law James Buckley, discover buried Roman artefacts worth a small fortune. The find soon turns out to be a curse leading to theft, murder and bribery.

If you can put the glaring plot holes aside you have a half decent enjoyable four hours of television.

The performances are pretty solid throughout and the aerial shots of Glastonbury are truly stunning. 7/10.

A fairly promising start makes way for a ludicrous penultimate episode followed by a finale with more holes in the plot than could be reasonably expected from a drama about detectorists.

At best, it's daytime tv fodder but with lots of swearing added to make it seem like it's a show for grown ups.

Was it supposed to be a comedy?

The actors, at least the most recognisable ones, all should know better but seemingly don't care; take the money & run?

One actor in particular should be ashamed of wasting his talent & performing to type as requested by the producers whims. If he's reading this, he'll know what I'm referring to (three languages & all you did was squeak!).

Even the music, apparently from Alabama 3, alternates between sounding like Last of the Summer Wine & a cheap horror movie with an obtrusive harmonica score one moment & a creepy organ the next.

Truly dreadful & a complete waste of time.

I thoroughly enjoyed this series, quite different to the average drama. It starts off gently but intriguing, with may be not the best dialogue or acting times but with humour. Then it takes a sudden turn to something very dark. There are many twists and turns and quite unexpected events but then back to normal family life. The characters play their parts well. Even when you can see the possible outcome, things suddenly change and it keeps you guessing. I wouldn't say it is a gripping drama but enjoyable and certainly held my interest. Also it was only four episodes which I think is a bonus. I would recommend it for its quirkiness. Well done to the author and the actors. I loved it.

Some reviewers have the opinion that the plot was unrealistic, if they are referring to the find not being declared and an attempt made to sell it illegally, then that part is based on a real event, in 2019 two men were jailed for not declaring a Viking hoard with an estimated value of £12m.

The sweary and violent baddie was a bit cartoonish and was added no doubt for "dramatic reasons" but this is not a documentary, and no mention was made of it being based on a real event, even if it was.

It's to be hoped that this drama will put some crooked treasure hunters off not declaring, but it probably won't.

Overall an entertaining mini series worth watching once . The cast performed well and the storyline , although implausible at points was generally engaging and entertaining. The reasons for not scoring it higher are based aroind the script and plot . Whilst entertaining , bits of it were almost waiting to get going on a more involved and new tack. The kidnap , the very rich collector and the missing business partner to name just three. The portrayal of the police and some other aspects , were with a sort of comic edge but not wildly funny and it left you wondering is this trying to be comedy or drama because it didn't really sit comfortably with the level of mix.

Despite this it was definitely entertaining .