From Darkness

Featuring a stellar turn from the always reliable Anne-Marie Duff, this detective series escapes from excellence. So close, but the emotional bantering between the two main characters distracts from the impetus of the plot. In the end, it seems like the majority of 'From the Darkness' is comprised of relationship explorations and artistic mood shots. Too many times, I became involved only to find myself drifting away during the too many moments of personal angst. Overplayed, the emotional impact of the horrors of the situation in which these characters find themselves is dulled and a detriment to the overall impact. Which is a pity. A show like this needs cohesive plot, uninterrupted by relationship and personal turmoil. Perhaps the audience for this series is an altogether animal from my preferences, but more judicious editing is needed to make this the top notch show it should have been.

Opening theme song is great. Only great thing about this poorly written crime series. A great cast handed a poorly written script to try and make it better.

Angst around the dramatics about Claire's mental health is a let down when revealed. Goes on for almost 3 episodes until we find out what hurt Claire is hiding when revealed. Gosh I thought it had been something horrifying like the victims found because this is what we are pushed to believe. Disjunct, male bullies and then the young detective takes a pot shot at Claire...why? The main character Claire's part is a nightmare, gosh how did she act it?. Series is only worth watching to do housework.

Three quarters of the way through this series, I feel I can provide a well balanced review based on what I've seen so far.

It is quite slow in parts, there have been more slow pauses and deliberate gazes then I have ever seen. The production values are a little disappointing, it feels quite clunky.

The story is interesting, but it's been done better so many times, Waking the Dead, Messiah etc.

I have to say I found Anne Marie Duff quite a strange choice for the part, she's an excellent actress, maybe too good for the part. Johnny Harris I have enjoyed more, he fits the role much better.

It's improved as it's gone on, Part 3 was rather good. It will be interesting to see who was responsible for the murders.

This is just a terrible series from every possible perspective! The script is bad, the plot unrealistic, the editing is a jumble of scenes that appear to be stuck together in a random manner, and the cinematography goes overboard with close ups of eyes, nostrils, mouths, all to the point of ridiculousness. Even if one tried to follow the incomprehensible plot, it all appeared so disconnected that it was impossible to unravel. As other reviewers have pointed out, The writers seemed to have been trying to make this like a Scandinavian noir detective series where all the characters have some life issue, however this just falls flat here! The ending suggests that the creators had hoped for a second season but thankfully the BBC must have decided that one was enough pain to inflict on viewers! Do not waste your time on this....you'll regret it!

I wasn't able to finish watching the first episode...

Lots of shots of Claire Church gazing deeply (into the past) with accompanying visual and sound effects. Close ups of quivering lips and tears and other such artifacts.

Little else going on, the usual "boss (es) not happy with progress".

Then the flashbacks started, that did it for me, had to hit the kill switch.

The most entertaining part provided by DS Anthony Boyce, the Oxford educated dog-hating, orange juice drinking, seasick, hung over assistant.