Inside Man

My title says it all. Two of my pet plot peeves are stupidity (the characters do something stupid to move the plot forward) and contrivance (circumstances beyond credibility to move the plot forward). So masterful in so many ways, it is a shame that this plot seems written by a drunk amateur shouting out random ideas ("hey, and then this could happen!...").

The best bit was Stanley Tucci's and Atkin Estimond's neo-Sherlock/Watson rendition. Great character concept, actor pairing, and portrayal. The only downside (again) was the fairly contrived scenarios they were challenged to solve. But I could watch them banter all day.

I would reboot the series around Tucci and Estimond and hire a professional writer to focus on plot structure and you would have winner to rival "Sherlock" and "Elementary".

This show pulled me in within the first 15 minutes. The storyline is a complicated, frustrating mess from the off. It is a reminder how anyone can find themselves in a predicament which leads them to do silly things that they would never have thought possible. The first episode is the best for comic value but the episodes get a little darker as they go along and the last is the most frustrating but not in a bad way. It is just like the characters. All likeable, but annoying because of the things they do. This is definitely set up for a sequel and I will be tuning in. Very smart script and so very watchable.

So much talent, actors and writers, but what a farce. They probably had to first come up with a list of plotholes to then write a story around it. I can't imagine running into so many problems when writing the story first... Every possible cliche is present. Should get stars only for that achievement.

• Empty phone battery
• Sudden and irrational change of mind at crucial point in story
• Calling each other and the others ignoring the call
• When they eventually answer the phone, talk about anything other than the thing they WANTED to get across
• Endless trivial discussions to actively ignore the topic you had to get off your chest. Next time, talk about the weather, at least *something* interesting to listen to.

• Ending up at the other side of the world for no apparent reason
• Convenient van to run over the one character that can make a difference.

This show sets up some contrived circumstances, in the first episode, somewhat rapidly in succession. Without going into details it requires a fair bit of suspension of belief, because literally none of those events would occur anything like that.

There's language that people don't really use in real life, that are somewhat more common in niche circles - and I notice this is for some reason common in British, and in particular BBC television series. I'm not really sure what it is about the BBC, but they have a way of creating TV that is particularly out of touch with reality.

On the positive side the acting is fine, the characters would be fairly compelling if in slightly less contrived scenarios and it isn't boring by any means, it just has a persistent distracting quality about it.

OK Yep - its imlausable - but how many plausible pieces of fiction are there?

This is an British TV programme by The BBC. Its basically half set in The USA but intertwines with a UK based situation. Quite unique in my view.

I think its really well written - great storyline and really good characters.

At first, when I saw Stanley Tucci - a resident of my home town London (and I see him sometimes around the neighbourhood) - was in this production I was not at all convinced of his suitability - but he is absolutely perfect in this role.

Its a really well produced series worthy of a lot more than the ratings on here. I dont know why the ratings are so low - with the storyline, acting and intertwining production, I think this is just great.

But dont take it all too serriously!

You must watch it until AFTER The Credits on the last episode.