User Reviews

I really couldn't believe it, but in the last ten minutes or so of this three-part series, Public Enemies, they tied up all the loose ends. I was actually thinking, oh, we only have three segments of this - it obviously went on much longer. It reminded me a little of another British series, also a three-parter, where more info was packed into part three than the total of the other two.

The story concerns a probation officer, Paula Radnor (Anna Friel) who is back at work after three months of suspension. One of her parolees, supposedly under her watch, committed another murder.

Radnor's new case is a man, Eddie Mottram (Daniel Mays) who served ten years for killing is girlfriend. Naturally, Paula is pretty tough on him due to the fact that she's being watched just as carefully. Paula makes sure that he moves into the bail hostel, visits the parents of the murdered girl to inform them what areas Eddie is allowed to be in, and makes sure Eddie knows what he can and cannot do. He gets a job and a girlfriend; when he doesn't tell her why he served time, it falls to Paula. When Paula sends Eddie to an anger management class, he loses his job.

One day, Eddie goes to Paula's house and informs her that he was innocent. He and his sister want Paula to help them get his case looked at again.

This is a good series, with a few twists along the way. The acting by Friel, Mays, and Lorraine Ashburn as Paula's boss is top drawer. My problem with the series is that Friel is so damned beautiful and so classy, I found it hard to buy that she might be attracted to Eddie. I could see his attraction to her, but I really didn't get it going the other way.

My other problem is that the ending seemed rushed and abrupt. As I said above, in ten minutes we had the denouement of the whole thing. If you're going to do a three-parter, you could at least plan to spend more time on the ending.

As I said, I saw another British series in several parts that did the same thing. Unfortunately I can't remember its name. Maybe it had the same producer.

I really enjoyed watching this show, Daniel Mays was the main reason for me watching it and he proved to be a good actor being very convincing and really feeling sympathy for Eddie.

The story starts out as a mystery then things slowly come to light about Eddie and his past and I felt torn as a viewer between Eddie and Paula as they both have so much to lose.

The only thing that I disliked was how I felt the ending was rushed and to be honest I felt really disappointed after watching three episodes and only in the last few minutes the person we would least expect turns out to be the killer.

When I started watching this I wasn't entirely sure what to expect; I didn't know if it would be a 'gritty' drama, a mystery or a psychological thriller, as it turned out it has elements of all three. Paula Radnor is a probation officer who has served a three month suspension because a man she was meant to be supervising committed another murder; Ben Somers is a convict who has just served ten years for the murder of his girl friend, a crime he pleaded guilty too, inevitably Paula's first case after returning to work is Ben. In the opening episode we see him getting used to life outside; moving into the bail hostel, getting a job, meeting old friends and even getting a girl friend. The first twist comes at the end of the episode when he turns up at Paula's house claiming that he was innocent the whole time. Having changed his story Paula is forced to raise his threat level which leads to him losing his job and eventually his girlfriend. He does not take this well and gets more and more angry and it looks as if he will be sent back to prison but Paula gives him another chance and in the second twist states that she now believes he is innocent. As the story approaches its conclusion it looks as if it will end with Ben back in gaol and Paula out of a job… until there is a surprising revelation.

This was a surprisingly gripping series with fine performances from Joe Armstrong and Anna Friel in the lead roles. Armstrong did particularly well making the viewer think that he genuinely is dangerously out of control. In the first episode I thought it was turning out to be a drama about a murderer coming out of prison but after his claim of innocence it became a mystery too; was he really a killer and if not who killed his girlfriend all those years ago? Unfortunately things unravelled somewhat at the very end; just when it looked as if all was lost and we'd never learn who is the real killer the murderer hands himself into the police… we don't even get the satisfaction of seeing the protagonists work out who did it. To be honest it felt as if the writer suddenly realised he only had five minutes left to wrap things up and wasn't sure how to do it.

Been harder nightly to find any series. I saw this had Anna Freil in it, read the synopsis and tuned in. Was I ever surprised to see a young Daniel Mays( One of my favorite actors ( Not a big fan off Freil tho) but usually anything she's in is good. Ok. The script and editing could have been tighter. Should have showed a bit of his life previous to the event to maybe give sympathy toward his character tho I suppose they did so with how extremely over bearing she made life for him. I was so darn mad at her charcter! i'm not guilty but lets make life worse for you. I was glad she got involved and in the end hope she left that jerk of a boyfriend and hopefuly now he can rebuild his life. and also the damn dad! Poor guy. Well all and all a feel good ending and I recommend to Mays and Freil fans. Edit to add at first I thought Asling loftus was India Mullen ( whom I love from redrock.) They look almost identical but Asling din't have the Irish accent. Any ways she's a good little actress. I need to look her up and see what else she's done since this.