Really Surprised!

People are voting emotionally.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

I'm not familiar with the source book by Mark Billingham and so was initially confused by the format of this four-part crime drama consisting of two loosely connected stories run together one after the other.The first story was a traditional whodunnit in a familiar set-up where two young girls go missing, one turns up dead and there's a race to save the other one. Returning to her detested home town is pregnant police detective Helen Weeks played by Myanna Buring, ostensibly to comfort her childhood friend, whose husband is the prime suspect, but of course she can't resist some investigating of her own. Not only that, it turns out that her main reason for hating her upbringing was a childhood trauma she shared with her friend, which means some clichéd encounters with her phantom childhood self as she battles her demons, not to mention wider local prejudice, to crack the case. We've all seen these kind of stories spread out over 6-8 episodes so I suppose I should be grateful for the concision here but somehow it did feel a touch rushed although I'll confess I didn't guess the perpetrator.Did I mention that our girl was conflicted in her love life? Despite having an apparently happy relationship with "good bloke" fellow cop Paul, she has a fling with another cop, a Jamie Dornan lookalike, to the extent that she doesn't know who the father of her child is. This plays onto the third and fourth episodes where, now heavily pregnant, her life is turned upside down by an apparently tragic accident involving one of the men in her life which goes onto involve gang warfare in inner Manchester, with a mounting body-count which doesn't stop until the last scene. This story was much darker, more urban, more interesting I thought and contrasted with the more traditional story at the heart of episodes 1 and 2.I suppose the two differing stories show how different one case can be from the next but didn't exactly make for convincing continuity. Buring's lone-wolf activities, especially in the second half, take some swallowing as she puts herself and her almost-due child at great personal risk as she tangles with teenage gangs and criminal overlords in pursuit of the truth.Buring was okay in a sub-Anna Friel-type part but Ben Batt (a lookalike for pop singer Chris Martin) was better in the thankless task of the cuckolded boyfriend. There were some odd background characters you suspect there for PC reasons like Buring's gay dad and his boyfriend and her very camp forensics chum who isn't above following men into toilets. I did like the acting of the young black actor who played the new teenage father drawn into gangdom to provide for his girlfriend and child.For me though, on the whole, there were too many situations, too many characters and too many coincidences, plus I never really cared for Buring's character much from the start. But the detective parts were fine as was the depiction of inner city life and strife in Manchester making it a slightly above average crime drama of its type.

I'm addicted but I often watch twice to fully understand what's happening. Please is there another series planned? Tuesday evening is now an empty void . Rather bitty in parts but this doesn't detract from its overall appeal. Please can we have a follow up series as so many unanswered questions!

'In the Dark' is a strange kind of television series: well-acted (MyAnna Buring stands out in the lead role), and with interesting themes, but marred by a broadly implausible premise (female detective brings criminals to justice while nine-and-a-half month's pregnant) and sudden plot leaps. Danny Brockelhurst is an experienced writer, and to be fair, here he is adapting books and not writing from a clean slate, but the script is definitely uneven, and the result falls between fast and taut, and something lengthier and deeper which might have told a more coherent tale.

This is a well-written, thoughtfully directed crime drama... another one; BUT actor MyAnna Buring, who made a big splash in RIPPER STREET, proves she can shift gears and deliver a contemporary role with immediacy and honesty.Ben Batt portrays her partner Paul, and their banter sounds genuine and the rapport between them is easy and realistic.The plot progresses with few differences from other highly-rated investigative dramas. That's good news, but I wasn't sure if I could take another season of BROADCHURCH or THE KILLING. Luckily for Buring, I'm hooked and watching her acting choices.Glad to see she has escaped from the beating that was MY HOT PROPERTY, a film so driven by its premise, the characters don't have a chance.