Having just watched all six episodes of this show and also watching "Morse" and "Lewis", I feel compelled to write a review. It's not clear to me why this appeared to be a good vehicle for Whately, who is so obviously born to play a copper. The insurance investigator angle does give them an opportunity for more plot variety, but they rarely take advantage of it. Things usually devolve to a murder case which is solved in the requisite 1-hour time period.
So what's good about it? The acting is fine. All the characters are capable actors and actresses. Even with a change in some of the cast with season two, the losses and additions even out and the ensemble still works. Almost all of the plots are interesting and most of them make some kind of sense. This is all good.
Now the bad... the Jimmy Griffin character is saddled with not just a girlfriend, but also a wife and two kids. While not fatal to a show like this, it turns out not to add very much either. In particular, the writers had no clue about how to handle his wife's role. In each episode she is given a different clichéd script. First the angry, jealous wife. Then in later episodes the "why can't you have a regular job" role, then "how dare you endanger my children" and finally to neutral bland housewife. There is no consistency or logic to any of her actions. In each episode she is a different character! I'm amazed she was able to handle it as well as she did.
For us Kevin Whately fans these are worth a look, don't be put off by the first episode which includes a lot of the wife screaming and domestic tribulations, nor by the last episode which appears not to have had proper writers at all. But on the whole you'll come away wishing they had skipped this show and done a couple more "Lewis" episodes.
So what's good about it? The acting is fine. All the characters are capable actors and actresses. Even with a change in some of the cast with season two, the losses and additions even out and the ensemble still works. Almost all of the plots are interesting and most of them make some kind of sense. This is all good.
Now the bad... the Jimmy Griffin character is saddled with not just a girlfriend, but also a wife and two kids. While not fatal to a show like this, it turns out not to add very much either. In particular, the writers had no clue about how to handle his wife's role. In each episode she is given a different clichéd script. First the angry, jealous wife. Then in later episodes the "why can't you have a regular job" role, then "how dare you endanger my children" and finally to neutral bland housewife. There is no consistency or logic to any of her actions. In each episode she is a different character! I'm amazed she was able to handle it as well as she did.
For us Kevin Whately fans these are worth a look, don't be put off by the first episode which includes a lot of the wife screaming and domestic tribulations, nor by the last episode which appears not to have had proper writers at all. But on the whole you'll come away wishing they had skipped this show and done a couple more "Lewis" episodes.