Run

The quality of the first three stories was about as good as I have seen for a miniseries.

I found them realistic and dark but in those three stories there was always the unifying theme that some sliver of human decency was struggling to prevail, even in the most inhospitable of environments. It didn't always win, but that struggle was what made the first three stories relatable and linked them together.

The fourth story is completely different. There is no moral struggle. The protagonist acts completely entitled and is even more unlikable than the two yobs at the beginning of the story. Worse, she is just reading the script - there is nothing real for us to see and no soul for us to care about.

Too bad - the first three story lines were very compelling but the ending was so weak and jolting that it ruins the entire effect.

This 4 part drama is not for the jolly hearted but instead more for serious lovers of honest drama. It pulls no punches and is as gritty as it gets. Gut wrenching from all members of the cast. Sadly this excellent seems to have passed by now forgotten.

Love how this series of separate episodes each connect with each other, whilst you witness the impact of ripple effect.

Quite dark, gritty and everything great about British drama! You will either love it for it's raw truth, or hate it for its tone.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Just what I need...another grim, depressing British drama, spread over four parts just to pile it on that little bit more each night. Set in the sprawling, wanton metropolis of East London, this four part TV drama takes an unflinching, uncompromising nosedive in to the world of those it portrays, taking in a council estate mum (Olivia Colman) and her trouble with her murderous, thuggish sons, a recovering drug addict (Lennie James) trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter, and an illegal immigrant Chinese girl (Katie Leung) who gets by trying to flog dodgy DVDs, only to find her family has missed payments to the crime gang that smuggled her in back home, as well as a lap dancer (Jaime Winstone) who comes to know a polish woman who has something of a connection with the man murdered on the estate.

With next to nothing in the way of humour and light, it's the more fundamental stuff that's going to life this above the periphery, in terms of the writing, dialogue and performances, and once again we have another spell binding performance from Olivia Colman, who manages an East London accent very well over her more pronounced real life vocabulary. As probably the most recognizable other stars, James and Winstone also handle the material well, familiar faces in this type of production. Trying to inter connect all these seemingly unrelated stories together, the writers seem to be aiming for a Pulp Fiction style approach. It works nowhere near as well, but all the same, for what it is, Run will impress it's target audience. You just pray they have a sense of humour. ***

This four-parter is set in and around an area of poverty in London; we have four stories that do not intertwine so much as bolt together at either end, with one character connecting to the next in a way. The four stories sees a mother struggling with two teenage boys and a history of male violence; a recovering junkie trying to get back with his estranged daughter; a Chinese illegal selling DVDs to pay off a debt, and forced to do much worse when she falls short; and a Polish cleaner who finds herself needing money and turning to arranged marriages to help. All of the stories are very gritty and downbeat in their tone; there is not a lot of cheer or joy in these films and as the free paper The Metro observed at the time, it was very odd scheduling to show the series in the height of the summer in 2013, which had great weather, sporting achievement in Wimbledon and the Ashes and generally a great positive air to the country – into which these tales of misery were dropped.

For me watching them in October 2014, they perhaps fit a bit better as the nights close in and the UK settles into a typically grey and wet Autumn. The series itself really doesn't need any distractions from the grim grittiness – because it really goes all out for that tone and needs the viewer to be in the mood for that. From the very first episode we have senseless violence, lots of swearing and very little sense of hope or positive vibes; this continues through the episodes as none of the stories hold back from where they are or where they are going – we are firmly in grim, gritty territory here, make no mistake. If anything I think it really does push it too far; at 45 minutes (without adverts) the plots are pretty contained and really have no space for small moments, so if violence or despair can be unleashed, it certainly will be – and soon. The excessiveness is not necessarily gratuitousness, but it does mean that it is very direct, very full- on and doesn't have many smaller touches or nuance to draw the viewer in – you're either with it or you're not.

Fortunately one of the areas where the film does very well is with the casting, and it is here where a lot of good work is done to offset the blunt grimness of the material. This is most evident in the first film where we have the nation's favorite Olivia Colman showing why she does despair better than most. Okay her character is blunt and has obvious 'look, we're gritty' dialogue full of swearing, but she brings out a great character, showing small things about violence in particular (she is a victim of male violence but also happen to use that fear on others when it suits her). The final scene in her episode in particular is excellent. Lennie James is almost as good, as indeed is Leung, who is a long way from Hogwarts here. Schüttler is okay but the least engaging of the episodes, while below this level the characters are a bit more generic and, while they are delivered well, they have less to work with and are more functional, in line with the material given them.

Run is worth a look if you are after a grim and gritty self- contained drama, because on this front it really does a decent job. However it is very one-note in its material and presentation, and it is only its good fortune to have some very good lead performances in there that rise it above the level it would otherwise have been at.