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Take a group of pretty decent actors, put them into a great conspiracy (in theory) drama BUT finish with the worst plot and unrealistic story of espionage and double crossing and you get Hostage. There's a lot wrong in the UK at the best of times but according to this storyline we have no security or diplomatic relations with anyone else in the world except the French. I think the script writers binged a series of 24, fed it into chatGPT and believed Christmas had come early. The fact that Netflix paid to make this is rather unbelievable as is the fact they managed to attract the cast that they did.

It's rare that I find a plots outcome hard to predict but this one took me by surprise. Yes, it's not entirely believable that the 'kidnappers' could have managed everything they did but you have to give the writers some poetic license every now and again or we'd have come very boring programmes out there. Could not fault the acting. Every single person was superb and the supporting actors really shone in this series. The length was just perfect too. Didn't drag it out. Story progression was really natural. Great mix of political drama, thriller, and action. Just the right amount of all.

This is British Netflix series which appears has been invaded by the worst of Hollywood or Americanised script writers or AI plagiarism with cookie cutter characters, ridiculous situations, and unlikable characters all borrowed from the BBC's book of DEI monitoring in every step and casting call and a bad guy copy and paste dialogue ripped straight out of A Few Good Men

Starts off with promise and quickly descend into twists you can see a mile off and some dodgy acting in parts ,with good guys that are just too good and bad guys who are just too bad making you almost cheer for the bad guys.

Tries to be John le Carre and ends up like a Judy Collins.

The final scene is supposed to be a rah rah rah political message but is so vapid it just ends up reminding us why trust in our politicians is at all time low.

I don't care how far fetched Hostage is, it's great, entertaining TV! For me, escapism is a must to block out reality. No-one said this is based on true events, so why not just enjoy it for what it is: pure, unadulterated, suspenseful entertainment. Fab parody of politics and conspiracy. Loved it. Chill out and enjoy 😆

Having read a 4* review by Lucy Mangan in The Guardian, I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Save yourself the time: it's soap opera territory, with more holes than a piece of swiss cheese.

I like Suranne Jones, but the plot and the script are so lightweight, and spectacularly predictable.

I really struggled to stay awake.