Reviews

A refreshingly authentic period drama. No pointless music drivelling in the background but instead real sounds giving ambience and depth. The friendship is formed in difficult circumstances and is well acted. Perfect for a relaxing Sunday afternoon. There is a social comment on class and sexuality but it is nuanced. A refreshingly authentic period drama. No pointless music drivelling in the background but instead real sounds giving ambience and depth. The friendship is formed in difficult circumstances and is well acted. Perfect for a relaxing Sunday afternoon. There is a social comment on class and sexuality but it is nuanced.

A good pace, good plots, sometimes funny, a mildly interesting comment on mid C19 surgery, believable sets, great costumes, good cast and acting that does well with a very mediocre script, dreadful music, but mostly bad because there is scene after scene of people doing ridiculous things that they just wouldn't have done. So does that matter if it's silly slapstick with the odd funny skit? Or should a high budget costume drama with social comment be more assiduous? There is a warning about 'use of tobacco' at the start of each episode and that somehow highlights the nonsense. The warning should include 'gratuitous violence' and if one was flippant , 'lots of annoying bits'.

With an underlying argument that Europeans stole their land this is a very violent protrayal of how native Americans suffered. The acting, screenplay and photography are superb but the ambience is often spoiled by the loud non stop music score most of which seems to be borrowed form latter day tongue in cheek westerns. The plot is complex but unravels intruigingly in the final episode. Eli Wip, the leading man, is a Native American Indian who has spent some time working as a cavlary scout/soldier. His unusual history is the fulcrum for the entire plot. His accent however is very 21st century American with rhetoric to match but get over that and his performance is otherwise excellent.

I was hoping for an authentic gritty depiction of 2nd world war desert warfare. I lasted until the middle of the third episode where the constant shouting and the American rock music soundtrack finally destroyed any chance of believable ambience. Even a dim understanding of history and this type of warfare would tell you that most of what these soldiers are doing and saying is unlikely despite the underlying story being based on truth. The constant shouting is very difficult to act convincingly. However there are a few good scenes which work. I suspect younger viewers with no conduit to the era might enjoy this and not realize that this type of war comic portrayal is insulting to those who actually fought. I can't believe Ben Macintyre is comfortable with it. I shall read his book instead.

There is none of that pretend bonhomie and shouty nonsense that we see on Top Gear. Calm, inteligent, funny and a great project with some real life characters. I hope they do more than three episodes. And I hope it creates some interesting futures for the boys involved.

Watch Richard Hammond and his film crew create a fine production and then hear it runied by the sound team who have this puerile notion that relentless heavy metal music is somehow connected with the heavy machinery being featured. The obvious result being that you can't hear anything that is being said.

Some old college friends share a holiday villa with their families. They are all utterly vile to each other and then go about a lot of improbable nonsense. Be certain that you will question the authenticity of just about every line and every screenplay.

The awful drivelling music that nearly ruins every scene strips away any natural ambience. The sets, the costumes and the plot should exude ambience but it just doesn't work. All of the spoken sound appears to be dubbed which renders it expressionless. What a waste of resources.

Pop is now a conman and Marriette is violent. Hardly family viewing. Even if you ignore all the 'woke' criticism this is still awful. If it was trying to be a French and Saunders type parody it might be understandable.