The scary monsters and the action thrills are there but so are the more important components – bags of charm, humour, characters you want to hang out with and quieter moments.
I came to Nightsleeper with low expectations – the bare synopsis sounded unimaginatively generic. But this promises to be an intricately constructed, high-speed ride – let’s just hope it doesn’t get stuck at a red signal sometime around episode four.
The story moves at a snail’s pace with clunky dialogue and a complete lack of the suspense needed to make a thriller work. Plots come and go without conclusion, and – worst of all – it’s boring. The acting is just the nail in the coffin.
The Celebrity Traitors is even better than the original. .... Even the challenges are better in the celebrity version. .... The celebrities have entertainment running through their veins. Some do play up to the cameras, but they are mostly utterly delightful.
Some viewers who start this will find themselves sufficiently invested to see it through to the end. But there will certainly be others – like me – who think The Beast In Me should have been put out of its misery long before it made it to Netflix.
This is one of those rare occasions when a highly anticipated series not only meets expectations, but exceeds them. By flipping the script (literally) and writing the ultimate good guys, he’s created yet another knockout.
This is Shetland as we know and love it. The beautiful, sweeping landscape shots, the dark, isolated atmosphere are comfortingly familiar and the cast of loveable characters have come to feel like old friends – yet somehow the mysteries remain as gripping as ever.
It slowly sets up the nuanced characters and their interlinked lives, where tension simmers behind the middle-class facade. I expect the lack of clarity will lead some to switch off, but for those who don’t, the premiere builds enough excitement – and ends on an unexpected and gripping cliffhanger – to make it worth sticking with.
It’s a crying shame that Noah and Joanne should be reduced to two anxious, lovesick nuisances. Brody and Bell’s chemistry is still off the charts, and they do their best to make their characters still likeable. .... The magic of the first season has been completely shattered by this disappointing, unnecessary second.
