Stick or Twist

I am not really a Guy Ritchie fan but I had seen the high ranking so thought I would give this a go especially as there seemed to be a strong cast list even if I have never really understood women's appeal of Tom Hardy.

I know this episode is laying out the story but it did seem incredibly slow with lots of cars seen traveling to fill in the time.

Pierce Brosnan ranks up the Irish accent here and Helen Mirren just doesn't sound right putting on a Irish twang.

Joanne Froggatt has always seemed over rated to me. She has obviously had work done on her face years ago now which stops her from showing any sort of emotion.

Once I have started something I see it through but this will be a struggle.

The editing is pretty mental, genuinely incompetent at parts, like huge gaps between characters reacting to an event, through cutting between them sequentially. Tom Hardy is usually pretty decent but it just feels like a worse Alfie Solomons here.

Helen Mirren is fine as hell and honestly? Zero beers.

Plus she's good in the show.

Pierce Bronson gives a shockingly poor performance here. I feel bad cause I like him in Lawnmower Man and Bond memes, I just feel like his character is so underwritten and one-dimensional he cannae do anything to salvage it.

The script is unbelievably whack. No dosser on planet earth speaks like that, even funny cockney fellas.

Considine is the best part of this so far, fire actor to be fair. Might watch more if only for your man Paddy.

Love it! The story and acting were on point. The roles were cast to perfection without a doubt. Can't wait for episode 2! Tom Hardy NEVER disappoints. He is quite the gem for sure. As usual Guy Ritchie's story did not disappoint either.

This is a series I can seeing dishing out so many great story lines about the characters. I can't wait to see how everything plays out throughout the series. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is a fan of mafia type shows and movies.

Once again can not wait to see how the story progresses. To me right up there with The Sopranos as far as gangster dramas go.

The dialogue is a big enough turn off for me to discontinue. Rather than opting for brevity it attempts to go for a poetic artistic flair which instead becomes an amateurish cliche. The above example is said by 20 year old, in the 21st century. The fish metaphor was another drag. The middle age women coffee to wine scene gives doubt that the writers can authentically introduce characters and move along a plot etc.

The accents supplement this. With bizarre writing and quite a mediocre, inconsistent set of characters and performances, it all feels very hard to immerse yourself into. It doesn't fit a 21st century setting, but neither anything before. It lacks grounding and makes you uneasy.

Production value is good and I'm sure there's potential for an okay story here, but the 8.4 rating? Nope. It's closer to a 6 part ITV crime drama made for middle aged people that use the TV as background noise.

I also hate Turkish Delight, but I love the start of this new series from Ronan Bennett.

The dialogue and the action are thick and fast, so you had better pay close attention. I recommend turning on the subtitles!

Tom Hardy (Harry Da Souza) is always great, and he shines herein. But, for me, it's Pierce Brosnan (Conrad Harrigan) who steals the show.

Helen Mirren (Maeve Harrigan) also brings her steely charms.

Originally, this series was going to be a 'Ray Donovan' prequel and tell the story of the Donovan's in the old country. But, the producers and Paramount decided not to limit the story and so the family name was changed.

This has all the hallmarks of a hit and a water-cooler-discussion series on Monday. Here's me hoping, innit!