Granite Harbour

DC Davis Lindo arrives in Aberdeen with the hope of becoming a Detective, he is instantly caught up in the murder of a businessman.

This was a major disappointment, I was looking forward to this quite a lot, but ten minutes into episode one, its major flaws were exposed.

It reminded me of The Sister Boniface Mysteries, a cop arrives in town from The Caribbean, and had to adjust to life in The UK, it also felt like a cosy afternoon drama, offering zero grit. Unfortunately whereas most afternoon shows offer light entertaining, and a little humour, this lacked any charm, it was impossible to engage.

The story is wafer thin, by episode two, my focus had gone, and I was struggling to associate who, what and why, it was just so dull.

Worst of all, the acting, despite some experienced, capable names, the acting was shocking. The characters were like cardboard cutouts, none of them, not even Gary Lewis offered anything. The chip on Mallick's shoulder can be seen from Bolivia.

A major disappointment, they got this badly wrong, 3/10.

Edit as of 2024.

Series 2, a total game changer, I stand by my 3/10 review for the first series, and I don't think it would be right for me to change it, but the second series is worlds apart, it's an 8/10 in my book, superior acting, writing, tense and exciting, it just goes to show that sometimes shows need time to develop.

Contrary to some of the later reviews, this is a decent mystery. Yes, we have a rookie whose instincts put him at odds with his superiors but he actually has 10 years experience in the Royal Military Police. Yes, he has Daddy issues but they don't paralyze him. It may not be absolutely unique, or groundbreaking, and I cannot judge just how regionally accurate the accents are (apparently nobody from elsewhere moves to Aberdeen), but the mystery is good and there are plenty of red herrings. The lead is appealing and the police, while not ready to follow his instincts, are not shown to be evil or incompetent. Enjoy!

Another reviewer likened this program to a paint-by-numbers version of art. That is just how I experience it. There is some potential for the lead character and his cultural and family issues to become interesting, but they don't. There is no real tension or depth...to anything. No life in any of the secondary characters; all are predictable types, and mostly poor acting. Then there are the central crime plots: unoriginal, drawn out, and uninteresting to solve. Predictable dialogue and scenarios. No feel for the city either, an underused element of an overall dull series. Wondering if it's written by AI.

As an Aberdonian I was interested to see this but as much as it was nice seeing a series being filmed in Aberdeen, some of the acting in this was truly awful. A few good roles in it but some of the supporting roles were poor. The music used at times was amateurish as well. Could have been so much better - just hope it doesn't put off people from making more shows in the area. Storyline was also pretty weak to be honest. No major twists. A poor man's line of duty at best. I severely doubt there will be a 2nd series. They'd need to really improve the peripheral acting. Cinematography at times was also a let down.

Fairly contrived and sadly indicative off the "inclusive" BBC of recent times but there is enough to watch if you get past the box ticking casting etc.

Tha acting on the whole is pretty pedestrian and the lead character is more contrived than necessary. A better development of his back story would have made the story stronger but as this looks for all the world like a work in progress there is plenty of time for that in series 2?!

If, like me you are a fan of detective/ police series it's watchable but far from great. A couple of the actors make it a hard watch at some points but I think there is potential if the BBC up the budget and look at the cast for any further series.

Give it a go if there's nothing else to watch if only for the Scottish scenery. OK.