The Game

The first episode was good but, if seemed as though all thd efforts had been put into the opener. After a poor middle couple of episodes, the series comes to a better finale but still struggles to show any originality or any real dramatic effect.

Robson Green seems to be cringing to the viewing audience but somehow seems to be the best mate to nearly all of his new neighbours.

Jason Watkins does show some great acting in parts but not enough to save the overall hum drum of the show.

Things manage to come to a satisfactory conclusion just when the truth seemed futile Another run of the mill channel 5 release.

Newly retired detective Huw Miller (Jason Watkins) who failed in finding the killer stalker, before he retired at the grand old age of 55, following a nervous breakdown. Anyway, he need not worry, as the stalker Patrick Harbottle (Robson Green) has found him. In fact he's killed his neighbour, living directly opposite, purchased his house, and moved in, all in a space of a week or so. Sounds far fetched? That's probably because it is. The pace of the drama is too quick after episode two, it appears they have sacrificed character development while also compromising on a good storyline, so the whole production can be wrapped up in just four episodes, I speculate for budget reasons, which is a shame. Really strong acting as you would expect from two actors of this calibre, but on the whole an anticlimax.

Yet another series reviewed all within 48 hours stating the best thing on TV ever.

Seriously you need to watch this garbage, purely to figure out how notable actors and actresses ( is that word allowed ) agreed to appear in this. Money, pure & simple. Great cast, shocking script, dialogue etc etc etc. I guarantee you'll say OFFS at least 5 times in episodes 2, 3 & 4.

Spoon fed dialogue to explain the obvious, ridiculous plot and even worse screaminginly ridiculous scenes that not even a simpleton would follow. Or maybe that's the state of TV when we have 500 channels following people doing their jobs, cleaning houses or Joel Dommet. Watch Playing Nice, Sixth Commandment or even a blank screen. Honestly it's better than this absolute sh@/@

In many ways this show is a waste of a great cast. The script feels like it was written by a group of people brain storming while eating lunch. The plot has more holes than a cheese grater. It has coincidence upon coincidence. The person responsible for the crimes is so loopy it's hard to believe he wouldn't have been caught by now. He seems to be able to appear and disappear more adeptly than the invisible man.

The only reason I'm persisting with it is the cast and I'm waiting to see what preposterous plot line they'll come up with next. Some of the actions of the main character are hard to forgive. He doesn't exactly endear himself to you.

Catch You Later or in the U. S., The Game, isn't brilliant TV. It's a rather derivative cat and mouse thriller that doesn't have much new to say. There are performances though that really elevate this tired material: Robson Green, a longtime favorite actor of mine, is appropriately reptilian and charming when he needs to be. It is bonkers though, that the neighborhood group don't clue in sooner, the one exception being Sunetra Sarker as Huw Miller's wife.

By turns, she is angry, frustrated, tired, ultimately loyal and very strong in defense of Huw, seasoned enough to intuit a predator in their midst. It's a performance that works on several levels of believability and ultimately satisfying.

Which brings me to the incredible performance of Jason Watkins, who I bet I've seen in many a British movie/TV show but just don't remember. He gives a full bodied, fleshed out performance of a man obsessed with the one that got away, his white whale. And all his selfishness, determination, frustrations, anger and near hysteria at times, filtered through such human ticks, to get this killer off the streets burns through you. I thought he was just magnificent.

The show isn't required viewing, but if you're an actor, you can learn a lot by just sitting back and watching Jason Watkins work.