Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Nice effects though.

I'll tell you why so serious

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

I was looking forward to this after all the hype and I must say, I was glad I watched it at the beginning, however, with part two I started to get confused. The main story is straightforward, young Ruth being forced to move from her beloved city flat to a cottage in the country right next door to her in-laws after falling pregnant. Postnatal depression causing problems as she struggles to bond with her son as her mother-in-law constantly tries to take over the care of her grandson and convince Ruth that not only is she an unfit mother she is an unfit wife. The first episode was gripping, the sympathy I felt for Ruth drew me in and made me anxious to see how it would play out and also wondering, "Is the mother-in-law really so obsessive and crazy or is it all in Ruth's head?" It left me looking forward to part two and really wanting someone to get her comeuppance, unfortunately it was disappointing. Apart from the fact the second part seemed to throw in a bunch of sub-plots that had no relevance at all and didn't move the story along, I didn't quite get the ending. Did she fall or did Ruth finally snap and push her? While I'm glad the mother-in-law died it was a bit of a cop-out ending and I'm not even sure what happened. While worth a watch and starts off well, the second half really let me down. I'm hoping that the book will be better, as is so often the case

I read the book by Philippa Gregory a few years ago and thought an adaptation of the book would be worth watching. However, the T.V. version did not have the menace of the book. The T.V. series might have worked better as a three parter as the 2 parts seemed to be rather rushed. Why was the male teacher character in it?, what was the role of the sister in Canada? why did the dad change character in the last half hour? Who were the American relatives (and why were they mentioned at all?) And worst of all why change the ending - the ending in the book was far more clever

The beautiful Miss Lucy Griffiths is the only reason for watching this weary exposition of one of T.V.'s favourite themes - two strong women in conflict over two weak men. Miss Francesca Annnis - looking scarily like Cherie Blair - is made up like a pantomime dame and about as convincing as the loopy mother - in - law.Used to dominating her husband and son,she initially finds her daughter - in - law equally submissive,but,as they clash over her obsession with controlling her son and grandson,she finds the tables turned. For no good reason that I could make out there were unresolved sub - plots about a fatal car crash,an absent sister,a work colleague with a crush on Miss Griffiths and a mysterious figure skulking in the woods. Halfway through the first episode we are told Miss Griffiths is in fact American by birth - a complete irrelevance. At the end it appears that Miss Griffiths has in fact turned into her mother - in - law. The scene where Miss Annis sniffs the sheets on which her son had just made love to his wife made me laugh more than watching Michael McIntyre's entire output. And another thing...having been trailered by ITV so assiduously for so long before its transmission,I felt that I had seen most of the relevant parts of "The Little House" many times before. Perhaps if it had been sprung upon me cold - as it were - it wouldn't have been such a disappointment.

We watched the first episode and really enjoyed it- it was not too original a story but Francesca Annis made a great evil Mother-in -Law. I am sure everyone watching thought she would deserve her come-uppance, and looked forward to the time when it would happen. The daughter-in-law was a sympathetic character and we rooted for her totally. Tim Pigott-Smith, playing the father-in-law, is shown being frustrated and slightly annoyed at his wife's actions throughout but doing nothing and the son ignoring his wife's frustrations and not seeing his mother's controlling ways. When it turns out that she kills her husbands mother in a not too carefully directed scene where she does/does not do it on purpose - the viewer is left wondering whether it was a purposeful killing or an accident. We do not blame her for being elated over the death but the second episode limped towards a very poor end. This had potential, a good cast and a somewhat tired premise. One thing I really loved was the in-laws house what a beautiful location!!!