The Casual Vacancy

The acting is good and a with complex plot from Rowling but over-all not worth my time. None of the characters were really appealing or convincing (except for the dead ones) and I could not really engage with the story-line. Considering everything, i can't recommend this film. I stuck it out it the end but finally I was sorry I bothered.

Fantastic look into human nature and the way we British are with one another. Living in a rural town myself I have met a few people like those in this mini-series.

I would thoroughly recommend this to everyone. The story is originally by J.K. Rowling so of course it's going to be brilliant. She once again blew me away with her detailed and thrilling story. The BBC did a fantastic job with adapting it too. Really well written. And they had an incredible cast from Michael Gambon to Keeley Hawkes (a particular favourite of mine).

What nailed it for me was the ending. A true look into how unlucky you can be (or how lucky) and to know who your real friends are. Moreover, the little things can create a domino effect and become bigger than you thought. I was in emotional shock in the end. I love it when a film or TV series is SO good that I don't see it coming.

Now stop reading this and go watch it!

Good but not great BBC/HBO series, should appeal to fans of Penguin Classics—there's a bit of Trollope (many pairs of knickers in a twist over a parish council election), Dickens (broad social satire, mostly aimed at the snobbish, hypocritical bourgeoisie), all the way up through Margaret Drabble and Jane Gardam (class conflict and social pathology in a microcosmic village).

The script has the usual problems of a long, populous novel that's been sliced and diced for television. The first two eps were quite involving, the third kind of rushed; prob'ly should have had a fourth to fill out the backstory and tie up some loose ends. I felt sorry for some of the minor characters, like Gaia and Sukhvinder, who had to hang around forever waiting for their one or two tiny scenes.

Good work by the usual suspects—Michael Gambon, Keeley Hawes, Rory Kinnear as the goodhearted lawyer whose death creates the casual vacancy (on the local council—it's complicated…), Julia McKenzie as a real-life Miss Marple (i.e. sneaky Thatcherite grandma). Abigail Lawrie is amazing, in her first professional role, as the series's secret heroine, a tough girl called Krystal. Haven't read the book, but I agree that what another reviewer called the "water downed" ending was not very satisfying.

I saw this series when it first aired and it has impacted me still, four years later.

I have never seen so much story packed tightly into 3 episodes before. There are layers upon layers showing the many different lives people live and how the characters interact alone and in a group.

This series has a very powerful "before you judge others, consider what they are going through" message without slapping you in the face with it. I even felt shame for making an early assumption about one chatacter that I inevitably adored and admired greatly.

You know those "How are you feeling today?" forms with every emotion possible listed? I felt nearly all of them through each episode.

The most impactful scene that brings emotion just thinking about it even four years later was paired perfectly with the song "Choir to the Wild" by Solomon Grey. There has not been a better song matched to a scene in any move I have ever seen. I discovered Solomon Grey through this series and love all of their music.

The acting was outstanding and the scenery was lovely.

It's not a light, happy series at all, but it is a fascinating look at life from many different perspectives and will certainly cause you to look at things differently.

They did not need to add a "thorough intro" to the mini-series. The introduction that the book provided was perfect. (The book's end was perfect too.) We start with Barry Fairbrother's sudden death and then see how the town starts to deal with it. Barry Fairbrother: What happens when the good man in town, the smart man, the progressive man, the honest man, the open-hearted man, up and dies? You are left with everyone else. This is what JK Rowling explores. The dynamics of a small-minded tight community.