Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

I enjoyed the first two stories more in this four-story series. Unlike other reviewers, I didn't find the first story rushed. I thought the pacing was good. It was pretty obvious what had happened to Helen and Linda in the past, so it isn't exactly a big reveal. However, I didn't think that the flashbacks added much to the story - perhaps there were just too many of them and neither of the young actress resembled the older ones much. I liked that the resolution at the end included the historic case being reported, though.I'm not sure that there was much original in the first case - one police officer has to convince another that the wrong person has been charged etc - we've seen this many times before, but I liked the dynamic of having an established couple working together rather than a romantic tension cliche. I thought Ben Batt was really convincing as an excited prospective father, it was interesting that Helen Weeks isn't an entirely likeable character and I thought Matt King's character added quite a lot.You have to suspend belief a little in the second story - as if a woman about to give birth would rush around investigating a case. The character dynamic also completely changes. I must say, I really wasn't really that interested by the gang-member story and I didn't feel sorry enough for the new gang member's situation. Those parts felt like a distraction or padding.Some things didn't make sense - why does the criminal Frank take the action he does in light of the information he gives to Helen at the end? He may have made assumptions initially, but his henchman seems to get the full story but the course of action continues. Also, an item is stolen, we can eventually guess who by or, at least, who had arranged it, but why isn't it mentioned during the resolution? The ending was a little flat: you've kind of worked out some of it by then, I didn't buy the blackmail part and Helen's disgust didn't feel real enough. It was all over in five minutes with an off-camera confession.I felt a bit "cheated" by that!I thought Matt King was underused in the second story and the David Leon character was woefully underdeveloped. Still, I'd watch it were a second series made but it would be a different programme out of necessity.

I loved this programme but, without giving anything away, I was expecting a few more episodes, as there are a lot of unanswered questions and unresolved plot-lines. It just kind of finished without warning, which is a shame because the rest of it was so beautifully written. Perhaps they're angling to see if it's picked up and want to turn it into a series; I hope so because, as it is, it was a big let-down, after a brilliant beginning. I started by giving the series 10 stars; I have now revised this to 6 because it just fizzled out and left me feeling cheated.

I'll not go into any detail but a distinctly average northern cop drama, and in episodes 3 and 4 a quite ludicrous and unbelievable plot.One question though. I maybe thick and blind, or both, but the newborn baby at the end was black, or am I imagining this? If so, who was the father then?

This four part BBC crime drama features two separate major crimes with certain threads running through the whole series. The first two episodes see pregnant Manchester detective DI Helen Weeks returning to her home town in Derbyshire when the husband of an old school friend is suspected of kidnapping and murdering and kidnapping a second. As she looks into the case, irritating the local police in the process, she starts to think the prime suspect may be innocent. She is also reminded of the disturbing events that led to her leaving the town. It also emerges that her partner, also a police officer, might not be the father of her child.The second story takes place some months later, when DI Weeks is almost ready to give birth. A young would be gang member shoots at a car as part of an initiation; the car goes off the road and demolishes a bus stop killing DI Weeks' partner. She doesn't just need to find out who did it, she also wants to find out what he was doing there; when his phone indicates that he's been calling an old-school local gangster she is concerned with what he was involved in. While she is investigating this somebody is killing the young gangsters.This series contained two intriguing stories; unfortunately they feel a little rushed; both could have done with being three-part stories. The first story seemed particularly rushed, although I admit this might be because I thought the whole series would be one story at that point. There are some fairly dark themes, including the revelation that Weeks was abused as a child and the fact that while the main case in each story is solved there are many details are left unresolved; perhaps these will be looked into if there is a second series or perhaps they just reflect the reality that some crimes go unpunished. The cast does a solid job; particularly MyAnna Buring in the lead role, she makes the character believable even when she is waddling round trying to solve the crime on the day her baby is due! Overall I'd recommend this to fans of the genre even if it isn't the best example to be aired recently.