Guerrilla

The strength of the names in front of camera and behind it was what brought me to watch this series, despite not knowing much about the story. Our focus is a group of young people who break a political prisoner out of jail, forming a terrorist cell, and fighting directly against the Government and Police's attempts to quash any black power uprising in the UK in the 1970s. As a world it sounds interesting, and it is all delivered with high production values and a sense of time. However it doesn't hang together tonally or in terms of content – and I'm not sure why.

We jump around with characters and tones for the whole 6 hours. At times it is almost playful, others tragic; it focuses on messy romantic relationship and affairs; but it doesn't manage to produce a sense of things building as a whole – but rather it remains fragmented across characters, situations, and tone. It does do enough to be engaging, but it is never really compelling or gripping, and I think this is down to its construction as a drama. As I say, cast and production values are all good and plenty to comment on, but they are mostly well served in the moment rather than the sweep.

That said, for all its faults, it is too well made to be bad; I enjoyed it while also wanting more from it – and the conclusion felt like a cop-out to get a second season, while also getting rid of its biggest scheduling challenge if it did go ahead.

How interesting that UK-based reviewers see this show as rubbish and USA reviewers see it as some brilliant piece of true drama. I think the latter haven't got a clue what they are talking about in the same way as the writer, director and producers haven't. Believe me and the others above who have said that 1972 was the height of working-class struggle in the UK when workers were more militant than ever, including on the question of racism and internationalism. The National Front (a UK neo-Nazi small organisation) was not really going then so why depict it as if it was? White anti-racists including skinheads were active with their ethnic minority neighbours and workmates throughout the 1970s but are not shown here. USA viewers and readers need to understand that though still to this day things need improving the UK is nowhere near as racist to its core as the USA is. There is nothing like the same racial ghettoisation of neighbourhoods, towns and cities as there is in the USA, no organisation as horrific as the KKK, and so on. Apart from that clanger there are so many anachronisms that I don't know where to begin, as well as good actors like Rory Kinnear giving terrible performances. At best this is a perverse comedy, causing me to howl with laughter. At worst it will give any USA viewer and younger UK viewers a completely false idea of the very real issues this confection attempts to address. After the dodgy story behind 12 Years A Slave this writer is definitely one to avoid in future.

This excellently directed and acted series takes an unapologetic look at England's cultural and official reactionary response to immigration from former colonies. With the beginning of self rule in Africa and the last vestiges of colonial power fading into the horizon, all British citizens are forced to choose what the face of the next British century will look like. Guerrilla succeeds by placing this localized struggle in a broader global context. The struggle for human rights has many stories and battles. By watching Guerrilla you will understand what this looked like in England - with all if it's ugliness out in the fresh air for reexamination.

As a Canadian I am glad to see some historical series that is retro but not in the USA. The producers did a excellent job in making this series. The actors do a good job of capturing the emotions tied to the issue of racism and equality.

Also I am glad the female character is of South Asian descent, which is a refresher because usually it is that everyone is white or black.

But this time we get the point of view from a very different character whose background is more complex then we realize.

In 1971 I was a young Skinhead in a seaside town. We loved Ska and reggae and our West Indian friends - we hated long-haired white UK bikers and smelly white UK hippies who were mainly middle-class - we loved our West Indian friends - fact.

We were working-class UK skinheads and our main music was black music - ska, soul, reggae and R&B - we loved black culture.

To see this piece of garbage and complete lies on the US TV is so hurtful and so wrong. This program is a complete lie from someone who knows nothing about 1971 in the UK.

This program is truly awful and a lie.

I marched with the Clash in 1978 when we marched against the National Front in London. It is so obvious that the person who created this program knows nothing about the UK and its history.

Possibly the worst TV crap of all time.