User Reviews

I liked it... Was dark, she was disturbingly creepy and freaky, (watchin her own son havin sex was just beyond ewwww) . But, i liked her, i liked the fact she was a total loon masquerading as a high rankin officer of the law. It's what made the show grippin and kept my interest. Cannot wait to see the next season to see if she gets out of her predicament and goes completely postal on those against her... Bancroft is completely unstable, yet a total control freak...a total villian. Bloomin brilliant.

I thought this was pretty good. She was a ruthless, vicious copper. Where did she go bad? I was glad she got what was coming to her I watch mostly UK series and this is a pretty good one. I enjoyed it. Writing was solid as well as acting. Some far fetched stuff but over all a pretty darn good enjoyable series. kinda like Marcella on steroids.

Bancroft has been on the force for twenty-seven years and is a respected officer of the law. But when her colleague starts digging up cold cases she has no idea that Bancroft has Skeleton's in her closet(literally). What starts out as a slow burning mystery quickly turns into a game of cat and mouse. What stood out was Sarah Parish's performance as Bancroft. The story reminded me a bit of Dexter, of course not on that level but still engaging enough to keep you occupied. The series has potential and if they can add some layers to the characters and add some emotional weight to the story, I can see a bright future for the series. That being said, the pacing is a big concern, I kept with it since I'm a fan of mystery, but I'm not certain everyone will. Bancroft is a grounded story about a cop who's in over her head and she's willing to do anything to keep her secret.

The last episode is totally unrealistic. Someone with a stab would cannot fight back the way Bancroft did.

So utterly unbelievable. It would have been obvious to everyone that this police officer was very directly involved with not only victim, but just about everyone else. And when the retired detective dies, a day after being interviewed by a detective? Nothing!! Nothing suspicious there then!! The UK makes some great "Cop" shows. This is not one of them.

Part of this movie was the recreation of a real cold case murder that happened in The U. S. in 1986 when a then LAPD cop Stephanie Lazarus broke into a Van Nuys, California apartment of Sherri Rasmussen, and police office husband John Ruettenn, who was at work at the time,,, brutally beating, BITING, then shooting her to death because of jealousy.

Thanks to the ever evolution of DNA testing, in 2009 cold case detectives were able to exam the DNA on a thrown away cup by now detective Lazarus to the DNA bite on file from Rasmussen's body, where 26yrs later after the 1986 murder, in 2012, Lazarus was convicted of first degree murder and received 27 years to Life. You can find crime investigation videos about that case on YouTube, which will shock you to find out how the LAPD treated the case, the female criminalist, and her family before the case was reopened.

Once I realized this was the recreation of that case, I had no choice but to stick it out, though it was really tough because of so many absurdities surrounding what was more like a 90s Twin Peaks dark thriller. Taking a break to read comments here, and reading the real cold case again on Wikipedia immensely helped, but I decided to rewatch season 1 after rereading the actual cold case to check the similarities, something which confirmed what I watched before. Unlike this movie, newlyweds Sherri and John were college sweethearts and athletes who truly loved each other, but like the movie, after Sherri's death, because John and Stephanie once had a casual sex relationship before his marriage to Sherri, he testified in court that she was able to worm herself back into his arms for a brief encounter.

I just don't get why writers don't take enough pride in their work when it comes to fixing the ridiculous amount of plot holes before releasing their films, especially after using a real cold case murder, and using pretty good actors who did a great job despite everything. Shame on them.

I came across Bancroft by accident one evening December 2018, a year after its first broadcast. I'd never heard of it so had no preconception of what it was about. I'd missed the first twenty or so minutes yet it had me hooked right the way to the end of the fourth episode and left me eagerly anticipating the second series.

Here was a fearsome female character who was prepared to go to any lengths to save her career and avoid prison, and nobody was going to get in her way. Sarah Parish was excellent in the lead role and ably assisted by her supporting cast but make no bones about it, this is Parish's show. She totally inhabited the character. I don't think anybody else could have done as good a job as she did.

It's also credit to the writer that she created a script that kept me on my toes right until the end and left me wanting more when it all finished. At no point do you take a particular ending for granted as the action swings backwards and forwards, pushing your thoughts in one direction before pulling them back the opposite way.

Excellent writing , excellent acting, excellent production. Gripping stuff all round.

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What a awful bunch of police officers, so MANY stupid stuff that happened in this show, in real life this would NEVER happen.

Were to begin?

Katherine Stevens must look at a bunch of cold cases, and found a 27 year old case about a young girl Laura Fraser who was pregnant and who was killed, she is bitten and stabbed 18 times.

Then a lot has happened........

First Katherine Stevens is so stupid to let all the evidence and stuff on the table, when she let people in her apartment, and of course Elizabeth Bancroft comes in her apartment and sees she is still working on the 27 year old cold case, then she is so stupid to not connect her superior Elizabeth Bancroft and the murdered girl Lily Sacofsky who is married to her best friend Tim Fraser when she Elizabeth Bancroft was young, then the girl Anya Karim who works with the evidence says to Elizabeth Bancroft she works in secret with Katherine Stevens to get her (Elizabeth Bancroft) for murder or for helping the one who murdered Lily Sacofsky, because she knows Athif Kamara (of course) and want Elizabeth Bancroft to take him down, and she says does not matter what she Elizabeth Bancroft did so long Elizabeth Bancroft can take down Athif Kamara.

Then she Anya Karim is being setup by Elizabeth Bancroft, so she is suspended and cannot work on the evidence to get her (Elizabeth Bancroft) for murder or something to do with it (the 27 year old case), then Anya Karim goes back to Katherine Stevens and tels her everything, then later Katherine Stevens is taken of the cold cases because Elizabeth Bancroft is good friends or something with some one high, and he want's to give his job to her because he is going to retire, then Katherine Stevens must go with Elizabeth Bancroft, to take down Athif Kamara so she can kill Katherine Stevens, and then when everyone is taken down by the police but not Athif Kamara, Katherine Stevens must film everything and she finds a secret room way in the back, but of course do not tell the police officers with big guns that she found something, so she alone go with only a hand camera in the room, and is shot by Athif Kamara but she has a bulletproof vest, and then Elizabeth Bancroft shoots Athif Kamara two times with a teaser and he dies, then Elizabeth Bancroft takes Athif Kamara his hand gun and shoots Katherine Stevens in her head, but she is still alive but barely breathing, then her chief hears that she Katherine Stevens is shot and called Anya Karim because he does not trust Elizabeth Bancroft

And then she Anya Karim tells him everything and that she has even DNA that proofs Elizabeth Bancroft is the murderer, then he interrogates Elizabeth Bancroft and says he has her DNA true her son, but Elizabeth Bancroft says it's the DNA of the men (Tim Fraser) she slept with, and that he Tim Fraser is his father and he is the murderer, and then even higher police officer who is in the other room comes the room in and says it's closed the cold case and forget it, even when the one who interrogate her says she must give her DNA the higher person says no it's closed, and that is about the end of the first season.

I have forgotten a lot of stuff that happened in the first two episodes, that also was SO stupid, but i have said enough, if you want a good cop show with a good story and not stuff that would never happen in real life, then look for another cop show, this show is just terrible.

The ghastly, depraved depths of narcissism, evil, corruption, and endless ambition of the lead character had me horrified and gobsmacked throughout the series. Throughout the episodes, I continuously reeled as the liturgy of her crimes and criminal acts grew. The writers have made her a character you hate and enjoy watching, waiting for her next evil deed to manifest. Add to that an Oedipal obsession with her son Joe, and you need to fight to toss your lunch, or heave your empty glass at her image at the screen. Add to that a draw that keeps you riveted, and it is a much watch, despite the predictability of certain storylines.