Playing Nice

High hopes for this mini-series, but these were quickly dashed within 10 minutes of the first episode.

Formulaic, predictable and entirely unbelievable. A waste of a promising premise and quality cast.

By the time you get to the end of the final episode, you know what is going to be the outcome, but will struggle to care either way. Pantomime villains and seems to borrow a lot of the main protagonist's characteristics from Sleeping with the Enemy, only not as well or as menacingly.

There are so many flaws in the plot you lose the ability to empathise with the characters despite the awful situation.

It could and should have been so much better!

This is compelling uncomfortable viewing that pulls you in and gets you involved. This got my Spidey senses tingling from the beginning, and slowly ratcheted up the fear factor as the plot and the characters were revealed.

I truly don't understand the reviews that talk about this being unrealistic. If it were a story about normal people in normal circumstances, it would be EastEnders. This, on the other hand, is genuinely scary. It's almost unthinkable that this could happen, but only almost, which is what makes it so tense and scary. Perhaps you have to be parent to really feel the current of fear that runs through this thriller/drama.

Pete and Maddie receive a shock from the hospital, who explain that there was a mix up with their child, that baby Theo was the child of another couple, and their son David, was given to Miles and Lucy, the couples try to work to a solution.

I thoroughly enjoyed this four part series, and despite some of the less than favourable commentary in the press, I think this was an excellent series.

Ignore the negative reviews, I'm not sure some watched this the whole way through.

It's very well paced, emotionally charged and full of tension. It will make you feel angry and stressed, good drama is supposed to make to make you feel, this certainly does that.

Put yourself in the shoes of Pete and Maddie, can you imagine being in their situation, it's a parent's worst nightmare.

I'm not sure why, but this put me in mind of their slick 2 part ITV dramas from the early 2000's, it has that kind of vibe, a time where itv made some really great drama.

Great performances, and arguably it's James Norton who headlines it, but James McArdle perhaps steals it, I haven't disliked a character for such a long time, Miles is a monster. Credit to the two kids also, they do such a good job.

Quality viewing.

8/10.

It's not an easy series to watch; on the contrary, it's quite intense and also frustrating.

I must admit that after watching the first episode, I decided to take a break; it's not my type of series. But it stuck in my head, It's addictive and very psychologycal.

And of course I love British series, and this one is in beautiful Cornwall, nice photography by the way. :)

In addition, the series addresses issues of role division, self-development, 'nature and nurture', social institutions and the changing social view of these matters.

The castig is also quite good.

I did miss a lot more emotion and excitement in some of the characters, and the ending seemed really weak and .. I would have chose something less cheesy overal.

Ideal for viewers with a strong sense of justice (although it is hard to watch) and a preference for grounded British drama. Interesting topic.

The subject matter starts off well. What would any of us do if we discovered that our child wasn't our child.

The frustration and confusion at the start makes sense and you do get a fairly accurate take on what 4 regular people would do in this scenario.

Then however, they made Pete become a complete man child without zero intellectual though, making basic mistake after basic mistake and being far too trusting for any normal human being. Then of course he forgets that he was a journalist and shows next to zero of these skills, showing zero attempt to do any basic research. With 99% of his mistakes just not being something any normal human being would make.

Peter aside, Miles was far too two dimensional a villain, being laughable at times, with Pete and Maddie not reacting like any normal person would. No police down South?

Overally the show starts with promise but soon turns into a badly written villain series, with Pete repeatedly making mistakes that makes no logical sense, and the finale was well, lackluster to say the least.

Doubt anyone will be watching this in a month's time.