A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The movie is surprisingly subdued in its pacing, its characterizations, and its go-for-broke sensibilities.

First of all I must confess that I am a hard core Agatha Christie fan. Have been for ages. I have got all the books and also all the films and shows that have been put out on DVD/BD in any understandable language. So you can imagine how excited I was when I heard of this show and the prospect of bringing new life to the all too often forgotten heroes that are Tommy and Tuppence. I love the books and how well they work together as a couple. If you can imagine how excited I was you will have no trouble imagining my disappointment in the show. First of all I thought the writing was way off. They didn't capture the soul of Tommy and Tuppence at all and they turned the two stories into a much more farcical and lighthearted piece of family entertainment than I think was ever intended by Mrs. Christie. It became all together unbelievable, unlogical and unbearable. I know that the writers wanted it to be lighthearted and a bit fun but I think it was one of the two biggest mistakes of the show. The acting was actually rather good for most parts with the one exception of the leading man David Walliams. Seeing as he was producing the series and was one of the people who got the idea originally he would have been hard to steer clear of but he just wasn't suited for the part. I suspect that the writers might have had him too much in mind when writing the scripts and that his involvement in the entire process is partly the reason for the shows and the characters failings. David Walliams acting is not engaging. Tommys lack of ability is not endearing and his lack of logical sense and thinking is down right annoying. Mr. Walliams presents Tommy with so little presence and wit that you never really like him. And I do believe that you have to like the hero of the show. I actually was so annoyed with him that I was hoping for him to be killed of. So David Walliams was the other big mistake of the show in my opinion. I think that it is very unfortunate that went this way for the show. It did succeed in loosing almost half it's audience from part 1 of the Secret Adversary (more than 8 million viewers) to part 6 the third part of N or M (just a bit more than 4.5 million viewers) a total of 4 million viewers who didn't bother with it.The novels and short stories about Tommy and Tuppence are really good and the earlier BBC series from the 80's and the French TV production from a few years back are all good. But it would have been great to have had a straight forward adaptation of the stories. I'm not a purist so I don't mind that they set the plots in the 1950's even though the stories span over approximately 50 years from the 1920's to the 1970's. That could have worked. But don't change the feel of the characters and the stories so drastically. If it's not broken don't fix it. Stick to the way Mrs. Christie intended it. After all she knew what she was doing and this production team obviously did not.

The negative reviews of this series are laughable. Is it spot-on Agatha Christie? No. Is it fun? Yes. Suspenseful and enjoyable. Jessica Raine is not attractive? Oh, please. Yes, David Wallaims' character is a bit of a dolt, but that's part of the charm of the series. The acting is fine; the script is fine; and the stories are engaging. The episodes each ended with engaging cliff-hangers, and the resolution of each was believable. The series also captures a post-war '50s feel quite nicely. Some of the folks who reviewed this seemed determined not to like it, and it might not be your cup of tea. But I found plenty to like here, and wish that they had made more.

I thought people must be viewing the show through too-high expectations, given the harsh comments, but by the end of the first overly-long, ponderous, sappy, unimaginative, wandering episode. End this shameful and inept mess and spare good actors the torment. And spare good audiences at the same time.It was as if the production team was doing a high-school film project. Poorly constructed scenes, silly dialogue, some of the silliest music I've heard in years - one could have used it for silent- film backgrounds, it was so simplistic - and an understanding of character that suggests the writing team and director was autistic.Again, end the show. Perhaps it's done after the first year and I haven't seen it. If so, good.

The male lead is utterly wooden and the pace is tedious at best. In the plot development, ludicrous and foolish choices are often made by him and his wife that no one in their right mind would make and live to tell about it! Perhaps with a different male lead and better directing this could have gone somewhere but as it stands it is very disappointing. Given the quality of murder mysteries (Lewis, Wire in the Blood, etc) and spy stories that come out of the UK (MI-5 for ex) this show is almost amateurish. The technical details are fine--lighting, locations, camera-work but the director and editor should look for other work!