Purely Joyful Movie!

Lack of good storyline.

Better Late Then Never

A Brilliant Conflict

Loved this series from the first episode. The plot is superb and the story draws you in beautifully and keeps you wanting more hence the writer deserves the highest accolade. The cast is perfect and do a stellar job. The direction is fabulous too as no thriller can do with sloppy work. Only negative is that it ends too soon, it deserved at least 10 episodes. Thats one view point, other view point says that maybe it was exciting because it was a short series. Hopefully we'll have a longer series 2. Kudos to Channel 4 for this one. So political thrillers are back and back with a bang and this one matches the era we live in.

Yet another political wannabe drama that fall way short of expectations.And that annoying much too loud soundtrack ... please, it doesn't make the story any better by banging on drums as if there was no tomorrow.Appalling security. Now then, the Prime Minister is assassinated, the Deputy PM inherits the job but is totally oblivious to the obvious security risks considering the recent murder of his boss. He pops down to the pub, goes jogging (always to the same place we are told), goes walking about. There were three bodyguards to start with, later cut down to one.The PM's Army / Navy / Air Forces advisers seem to consist of one general. Everyone including the PM are all effing and blinding at each other, government buildings are like an indoor market where anyone can come in.Stereotype characters galore, General with his agenda, two cabinet ministers plotting against the PM, evil banker, evil multinational, GCHQ and MI6 both with their own agendas, the ex-spook (on the booze, of course) going freelance, laptops and computer screens connected to bugs, etc. What were all these otherwise good actors doing in this mess?Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy was 33 years ago ... Still waiting for another gripping series.

Good cast and exciting plot. I think that in order to raise the excitement and make Tom Dawkins more vulnerable they gave him no friends or allies at all. It seems he had no one in the intelligence or military services that he could trust and was constantly fed bad or no information. He was very isolated and this was not really believable, as was his inability to protect the GCHQ girl who was helping him. I thought he was Prime Minister ! Having made those criticisms I was entertained and I thought Byrne was excellent as was the supporting cast. Nice to see Stephen Dillane on the box again. The good guy lost so any chance of a follow up series ?

Back in 1987 Channel 4 led the UK in cutting edge dramas. Last week we got episode one of "Secret State", allegedly 'loosely' based Alan Plater's superb adaptation of Chris Mullin's book "A Very British Coup". What a difference. The premise was good, a Bhopal style disaster in Teeside, the casting included some of Britain's finest talent, and the production values were very good.All this was completely wasted by a script that was puerile, full of clichéd soundbites, and by lousy directing and a cast of stock characters that would have made it into Michael Green's "The Art of Coarse Acting". We had a gonad crunching ambitious female politician, a smarmy yuppie-type ambitious politician, a drunken journo/ex-spook who knows where the metaphorical and possibly literal bodies are buried, and a young feisty journo who pops up with information nobody else has ever heard of.Has Mr Jones never watched "Yes Minister" or "The Thick of It"?His opening scenario was ludicrous. In real life the deputy PM would not be sitting in a local school hall being harangued by angry residents. That thankless task would have gone to some junior underling at the Energy Department. Nor does a pathologist have the power to withhold bodies from being released for burial, that authority lies with the Coroner. If a pathologist had serious concerns about unexplained toxins in body tissue s/he would have consulted their colleagues in the Home Office. Nor would said pathologist be telephoning the Deputy PM as if that individual was the only person with authority in the entire governmental system.Given the apparent assassination of the PM by a possible terrorist plot how did Ms Kane (alias Gina McKee) manage to get past security to speak to the Deputy PM at aforementioned PM's memorial service? Come to that, where WAS the security?And why was the head of Intelligence doing her own surveillance work? Does she not have an entire government department dedicated solely for that purpose?The whole thing seemed to be aimed at not very bright 14 year olds. Do the TV networks really think the viewing public is that dumb? For shame Channel 4. You've exchanged your credibility for dumbed down broadcasting. You have the temerity to advertise dross like this as 'Drama' while your schedules are chock full of freak shows, crass talent shows, and the dregs of society being filmed in their 'natural habitat' in what passes for "reality" television.