Hello world! Welcome back to another blog! Here is another instalment of my TV Reviews. Two shows from the scouse world and one where we return to the Scottish police for another crime needed to be solved!
G'Wed:
The first show I’m going to review is G’Wed, casted by Harry Gilbert.
This tells the plot of the unlikely friendship between working class scouser Reece and upper class “muppet” Christopher, and with their peers they navigate a various amount of topics such as grief and sex.
They say that opposites attract, and I feel like that this is a fine example. Reece (Dylan Thomas Smith) is a cheeky Chappy who does have a caring heart, but sometimes he does go about things in a different way. Whereas Christopher (played by Jake Kennedy-Byrne), is the complete opposite. He's career driven, does take some things personally but he's always there for those who need a helping hand. I feel that they balance eachother nicely, as Chris can help Reece focus when an important job is at hand, and Reece can encourage Chris to have fun and that there is more to life than a career. And as much I can see why Chris wants to do well after his mum passed away prior to the series (which I can relate to), its that friendship where you need to hang onto it whilst its there, and its a wonderful moment to see.
There were other characters who gave a real Sex Education vibe to the series. These included Mia-Louise (played by Gemma Barraclough), who is not afraid to say what she feels, and also Aimee (played by Amber Harrison), someone with big dreams but having to go through some setbacks to get to where she is. And as someone who also comes from a working class background I do feel for her and that we would be really good friends. Recce's friends Mo (played by Zak Douglas), Connor (played by Max Ainsworth ), and Teddy (played by Domonic Murphy), all had their own unique personalities to the show. Mo trying to follow his parents footsteps to impress the ladies, Teddy being the gay best friend who says it how it is, and Connor who fancies Reece's mum but sometimes it can come up in the most awkward moments. But one thing they had in common was that they all cared for Reece no matter what. And if that's not friendship then I don't know what is. There was also a lovely appearance from Nick Dutton who played a casting director called Jenson within the show. And after his journey on Act On This, I can see why he got employed after this role because he was born to be on the screens.
I think my only downside of the show was the ending. It gave off more of a cliffhanger after Reece made a life changing discovery, and whilst he was looking for the answer, I could tell that it's made him wonder what he's got himself into. I also wanted a happy ending for Christopher especially when Aimee berated him for breaking a promise he made to her. So it made me wonder if that'll be it?
Overall I would give the show a 4.8. And that is a good rating as normally with ITV comedy it's hard for me to get the gag, but with it having a similar style to Sex Education, I felt like it appealed to me more. But if it was revealed if there was going to be a series 2, then I would most likely see what would happen next!
The Responder:
The next show I'm going to talk about is series 2 of The Responder, starring Martin Freeman and Faye McKeever, written by Tony Schumacher and casted by Robert Sterne.
Following the last series, this series follows Chris into the depths of the world of drugs, whilst maintaining his relationship with his daughter, and also juggling his life and his partner in crime Rachel.
Like the last series, Martin Freeman once again gave off a strong performance as Chris. I could tell that being a night copper isn't easy, but the way he portrayed it was just flawless. And given he's not originally scouse is amazing to see. And you can tell facially how much the job has taken its toll on him. This blended in well with his working relationship with colleague Rachel (played by Adelayo Adedayo) where after leaving abusive boyfriend Steve (played by Philip Barantini, who also directed part of last series as well), she does everything she can to make his new girlfriend (played by Izuka Hoyle) see what he's really like.
I also saw the development in other characters when I first saw them in series 1. They included Marco (played by josh Finan), who has now become a father and will do anything he can to give her the best life possible and stay out of trouble, and also Casey (played by Emily Fairn) who is still wanting to go on the wild side after starting to be involved in the dealing side. But this all changed where after working for Jodie Sweeney (played by Faye McKeever) after using the money to run a ice cream shop, the secret about Casey's involvement with Carl really changed everything. And good on Faye for really channeling in that anger, whilst also having a almost fluent scouse accent. I also thought that Ray Mullen (played by Warren Brown) was just abit selfish for taking Kate from Chris, but Brown really channeled in that role and you could see how much he wanted to take Chris down for his own needs.
My only downside of this show was the ending. This is because brag even though Marco knew what he had to do, it’s just a shame that Casey didn’t do the same. I also didn’t know what happened to Jodie after the tense showdown, but equally I’m glad that Chris was able to see sense and also have a clean slate with his dad.
Overall I would give the show a 4.5. It was epic, there were lots of twists and turns and there was drama everywhere you looked. But I felt as mentioned before it could've been a happier ending for some, and I would at least like to know what happened to some of them who I wasn't sure how the end of the series panned out for them.
Granite Harbour:
The final show to review is series 2 of Granite Harbour, casted by Simone Peiera Hinde and starring Act On This member Michelle Jeram.
This time following the brilliant first series, Davis Lindo and the team were back with a new crime which involved in a possible murder, and also a case with a woman who was trying to start a new life for her and her unborn child.
Romario Simpson who played Lindo was once again a force to be reckoned with. His rebellious streak and his different ways of working were once again shown brilliantly within the show. And despite bending the rules slightly to get the job done, they seemed to eventually have a good impression on his colleagues. This was a contrast to his partner in crime DS Lara "Bart" Bartlett (played by Hannah Donaldson) who was eager to gain a promotion within the group, but somehow impacted the working relationship with Lindo and the team. But eventually they came to an agreement and together they were a team you do not want to mess with!
Once again the other characters really pulled together, like DS Simone "Monty" Montrose (played by the brilliant Michelle Jeram who once again pulled this role out of the bag using her experience to make the role more authentic), DCI Cora MacMillan (played by Dwan Steele who gradually saw why Lindo chose a different tactic and to see how the two cases intertwined. and DI Jay Mallick (played by Bhav Joshi). But he ended up in abit of a turbulent situation. Whilst I can't say what happened, lets just say that it nearly impacted the target of the case, whilst also having to deal with some personal setbacks. It was also nice to see the appearance of Lindo's father Grantly (played by Patrick Robinson) who is convinced that going back ton Jamacia would be the best thing for him, but after seeing the work he does, he may have been proven wrong. But the biggest surprise of all was Elsa (played by Melina Akerman Kvie) as lets just say that I saw a dark side f her towards the end of the series.
I do think my only downside is that because it’s 3 episodes there is so much to take in. And I’ve fallen into that trap of forgetting what’s happened half an hour after it happened, but at the same time having a series where you tell a story in 3 episodes it’s very flexible, especially for a creatives like myself.
Overall, I would give this series a solid 4.75. I felt like it got better from the first series and it had more surprises in store. And for me that's what good crime drama is all about.
And those are my latest tv reviews. I hope you enjoyed this read and let me know after reading this post if you've seen any of these shows, and if so what you thought about them. And also let me know what other shows you'd like me to watch and review, as I may have a few more in the pipeline!
See you soon for another blog. Until next time...
This is The Autistic Actress Signing off :)
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