Flowers

Series One:

Bleak black humour at it's brilliant best, the first season of Flowers is absolutely wonderful. It is a very dark comedy that will not be appreciated by everyone, it's the type that the British do very well, but if this is what you're into it'd be difficult to find something better.

Firstly, casting is simply brilliant. Barratt is simply fantastic in his role as the struggling father, you feel for him constantly and his attempts to spare his family his pain. Coleman, as always, is perfect as the starkly contrasting wife, and the twins each fit into the disfunctional family excellently. Each main character has their own arc and develop well in the space of a few short episodes. The growth is often, if not always, in a dark light, but the laughs throughout are plenty.

Sharpe clearly wrote himself the most lovable character as Shun, the Japanese illustrator who'd do anything for the Flower family. A brilliant source for jokes, or light relief from heavy subjects, it's impossible not to like him. However, when it comes to his own demons, these are by far the most powerfully emotional, simply brilliant.

The additional character of 'George' seemed unnecessary, it's an outlandish personality yes but just so dislikeable. He and ' Abigail' didn't truly bring anything to the show, they interlinked with a couple of the arcs but really nothing important. However this would be my only critism, the visuals, dialogue, and everything else were perfect.

Series One: 9/10

Series Two:

Where did it all go wrong? The second series is just infinitely worse as it loses any sense of humour, or emotion, or relatability. Focus switches heavily to 'Amy', who was a great character in the first series. This time around, it's just too heavy and dives so far into lunacy that it loses any sense of comedy. The Baumgaetner arc is dull and pointlessly surreal, and wastes so much time that it's almost as if the other characters' developments no longer matter, which is a shame because 'Donald' gets given another dimension.

Acting wise there can still be no complaints, but the weird sense of relation you may have gained with each character is lost here. Laughs come up every so often, but not much. Even 'Shun' is taken away, as he turns to drink. I imagine this could have been a really great story if the surrounding context was better in any way, the same could be said for 'Maurice'. The series does ditch the previously pointless characters, but they are replaced to a lesser extent.

In all fairness the final two episodes are better, particularly the last, which is beautiful. But this is only because it's more of a prequel/flashback, and the emotion and innocence of Shun is explored.

However, it's disappointing that Flowers turned out so differently in the second season, no element of comedy was there. The ending is lovely in a way, but I'm not sure it makes up for the rest.

Series Two: 6/10

If you are looking for something different, that is at the same time funny, bizarre and sad - then this is for you. I found myself shaking my head, crying and laughing out loud, sometimes in one single scene. While dealing with multiple issues including severe depression, the writer draws you into the lives of the characters. Where in the first episode you feel some annoyance with them, as the story develops, you develop a sense of sympathy and understanding towards each of the characters. I was so impressed by Will Sharpe that I looked him up and will make and effort to see more of his work. Truly a brilliant mind in my opinion and I have to add that it was as if the parts were written for these particular actors. However as per some of the other reviews, it is not for everybody.

It appears, from the reviews posted so far, that "Flowers" is a bit like Marmite. You are going to have to try it to see for yourself.

I'm firmly in the "I love it!" camp. Beautifully shot, great acting (with standout performance by Julian Barratt), very funny and heartbreaking (in a non-cheesy way).

Although all the characters seem utterly bonkers, we can all recognise their character traits as our own. We are just better at holding it in, and pretending to ourselves that it is not there. At all.

Although this works as a stand alone, it would be a travesty if it wasn't commissioned for a second series.

Dark, seemingly depressing too at first. However, the masterful use of the surreal and the perverse is a delight. This is Olivia Coleman at her very best, playing a wife suppressing so much turmoil that she's plainly the more troubled of the couple - in spite of Julian Barrett's superb portrayal of a suicidal husband. The addition of two deeply troubled but intriguingly bizarre "children" (living at home at 25) makes for even better viewing. Each twist of the story and development of the plot leaves me all the more enraptured - rare indeed in any TV comedy.

This is the sort of TV that only gets made when TV commissioners stop thinking about viewing figures and pandering to the hoi polloi , and instead go for something profound and amusing. The BBC should really be in the vanguard of such things, but they're always too busy in internal politics and demographical soul-searching these days. Thank the Good Lord for Channel 4.

This is a great dark comedy about an extremely dysfunctional and odd family. It has an honest look on depression and how it effects yourself and the people around you with a humorous twist.

Anyone who comes from a dysfunctional family (which I'm sure is most) or has even had depression I'm sure could relate to the struggles and sometimes comedic goings on within.

The cast are all excellent and Will Sharpe himself plays a great part in uplifting some of the darkest moments throughout. Olivia Coleman and Julian Barratt are incredible.

I'm hooked and I think Will Sharpe as a writer will go far.