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Overall, brilliant. Fantastic to see something that isn't based around plastic US injection-moulded characters and plot lines, free of teenagers saving the day. Good also to see smething that questions the narrative that Good always wins. We could perhaps have done without the side story of his home life which didn't quite 'fit' in context. There were some tired and obvious woke points as well. Even so, 100%.

Fabulous idea of transferring ancient Greek mythology into a modern day setting. The acting is excellent, as is the writing. At face value, this is just a romp and comedy but it's actually much deeper than that and raises questions about the nature of religion and religious beliefs. It's also very useful in highlighting just how the relationship between ancient peoples and their Gods was so very different from most of today's Judeo-Christian-Islamic tradtions. The ancients believed their Gods could be less than 100% good, which strikes us as very odd. No question - this is genius work. Well done guys.

Really very good. Top-class acting and an serious adult-entertaining plotline. The writing is good and for once, treats viewers like adults too - rather than as younger teenagers. There are some minor implausibilities in the plot and also the odd minor inconsistency. They're forgivable though and overall, job well done.

Excellent. Nothing more to say really even though it's necessary to acknowledge the the final episodes were getting slightly tired and repetitive. Even so, no hesitation in 10/10!

In truth, I don't know why I enjoyed these series as much as I did. Yes, the acting from all is good and the script is excellent but even so, it's hard to explain why I found this quite compelling viewing because superhero stuff isn't realy my genre. I think it's perhaps due to the fact that the characters are so flawed but likeable and the slightly surreal tone is great. It also drifts into philosophy by extension and that adds a dimension which means one has to use the brain from time to time - rare indeed these days! Brilliantly done guys.

This was 'OK' but really a fairly pale, if expensively-made, reflection of the original. On the plus side, it has widened the history out to include non-European. It has some amusing moments and certainly some of the effects are very well done. That's about it though because everything after than is, well, bland. Kudrow is a real talent but a lot of that is wasted here through poor production. She looks sometimes to be sort of lacking conviction and wondering what's she's doing here. She's too peripheral to the action. Why they haven't used her more is a mystery but I assume it's because 'inclusivity' now demands bigger parts for all the bandits and the development of their characters. As so often in modern productions when that happens, there just isn't the room for them all and the net result is they're all watered down and lack substance. Unfortunately, the young 'Kevin's' acting and that of his sister, just isn't upi to the roles. The ultimate good and evil roles have been changed too. Evil works OK but Good is openly mocked, which is distinctly odd and I could see some taking offence. So, as I said, overall just about OK but a lot more could have been made of this.

Generally, an excellent production. Acting A+++. Sets feel 'right' for a slightly theatrical feel. It has a bawdy romp culture which is about right for the 14th century genre of the likes of Chaucer and Boccaccio. Above all, it's pretty carefree and largely ithout crude, tedious WOKE-type preaching that pervades so much production these days. Social points are made but they're subtle and done with humour not outrage and lecturing. Pity we don't see more of this type of production.

Absolutely and totally awful. Both first episodes are a pile of indulgent, opinionated and issue-laden rubbish. R.T Davies, once a great writer, continues his slide downwards from his early olympian heights into a writer who is only interested in platforming issues and disseminating his personal political views of life. Sure, make some social commentary en-route in a story but NOT at the expense of the quality of the story telling itself. The two lead actors were equally poor though, in mitigation, they were working with appallingly bad material. Even so, their performances were woeful, seemingly consisting entirely of shrieking or silly and endless giggling. How much the hand of Disney is behind this destruction of an iconic series is unclear. However, the tone was set before the episodes were even aired, with Gatwa and Davies adopting the usual defensive and arrogant position of attacking their audience in advance, suggesting any negative comments would be attributable to racism or anti-LGBTQ+ biases. That is the ultimate cowardly and arrogant stance adopted by almost all writers and producers these days, who seem to forget they're meant to be writing for all - not a few in their own interest groups. It's far too late now to fiw this of course, the BBC having given Davies and his crusades a blank cheque in terms of production values. Another classic sacrificed on the alter of 'progress'.

Overall - it's 'OK'. Nice acting efforts and the plot would be potentially interesting but it's badly inhibited by some very sluggish writing. Aspects of it are produced almost as if it isn't taking itself seriously and that means many of the characters just aren't very interesting. Summary - "fair but could do much better with a little more effort".

Yes, good series overall. Not perfect though. On the plus side, acting A+, scenes and alternative universes were excellent and some of the attempts to show the complexities of multiple-reality philosophy were very well done. Unfortunately, like so many streamed shows, it suffered from being overlong and plot-stretched to fill in time. This was sometimes painful to watch, which was a pity because otherwise the ideas and storylines were all interesting. By the end, I was getting a little tired of the endless chasing but the finale was well-done. Overall - a good effort.

It has a few amusing touches but on the whole, we've seen all this umpteen times before. Even the portrayal in a slightly retro-future 1950s background context has been done many times previously ("Hello Tomorrow" etc.). The post-apocalypse backdrop is also now a mandatory component of about 90% of Sci-Fi on TV and has been for about 40 years. It is SO boring! Just not original enough and therefore the plot holes and messaging are even more tedious than usual. I respect many seem to love this show but I can't see things their way.

Been around a long time but still maintaining very high standards. OK, each episode is formulaic. It's also fair to say that after 10 seasons, some of the plot lines are looking a tad tired and repetitious but they're still entertaining enough. The acting is solid with James Spader deserving a special note. True, sometimes the plot lines are regularly facilitated by portraying these seasoned FBI veterans as being, at times, incompetent to the point of unbelievability but that's on the whole forgivable. If you've not seen it - well worth watching all the series.

At last - a Sci-Fi series that someone has put some thought into and injected a healthy dose of new ideas into likewise. Very good perfrmances by all (special mention for Liam Cunningham) and a script you actually have to think about and be patient with. Thank goodness we're spared the all-to-common and now exhausted tropes of dystopia or plucky rebels etc etc etc! There's also a very pleasing absence of American precocious kids (so far) running around saving the day whilst constantly proclaiing "I love you Mummy/Daddy" at the same time. The relationships portrayed are adult level and realistic and we're also blessed by the elmination of those now almost mandatory lengthy and appallingly naff discussions between characters about their emotions and relationships, that do nothing other than consume time and irritate viewers. The balance here between action events and dialogue is about perfect. Above all, we're spared too from the constant messaging, lecturing and virtue-signaling that are all now a staple ingredient of much drama. However, there is room for some improvement. The plot contains contradictions and inconsistencies - a common if partly understandable fault in much SF. It can also be very slightly slow at times. From time to time, ideas seem to be have been pursued then 'dropped' for no obvious reason (e.g. the countdowns). Other things aren't questioned or explained - such as how tech that's apparently way beyond current capabilities has seemingly magically appeared while no aliens are in sight or even close. Leving these few minor grumbles to one side, this is excellent. Let's hope it is carried on into other series.

Two episodes in and the jury remains out - though the overall feeling so far 'hopeful'. The plot is quite interesting and relatively fresh - something that is very, VERY unusual in today's trope-based SF on TV and in the movies. The acting is decent enough with some stronger than others but there's plenty of talent on display. Unfortunately, there are some faults too. The scenes on the ISS were tacky at times (oh dear, here we go again, dark corridors and mysterious noises/shadows etc.). Some of the writing also has holes and feels a little like it was put together by a committee. Some of the howlers that arise from this are unintentionally hilarious - notably a Russian controller constantly repeating into his microphone the same immortal phrase "this is a recorded message..." - something that should go down in TV history! Perhaps their recording devices had run out of batteries. The opening two epsiodes were also a tad slow but that is now a common factor in a lot of streaming-based productions, as people desperately try to get the full 6-10 episodes out even if there's not really enough material. For all those faults though, it is quite interesting and a pleasant change to a lot of the truly awful stuff pumped out these days pretending to be original SF. Fingers crossed.............SERIES END UPDATE - having now watched the full series, I've pulled my initial score down somewhat. As more episodes passed through, the series started to get bogged down in its own gravitational mire. It became increasingly sluggish and indulgent with it eventually succuming to the trap of spending more and more ime on emotional analysis and character relationships with insufficient energy being left to devote to progressing the plot. Towards the end, I found at times I was thinking "get a move on!", which is a pity becuse this started well.

Excellent acting from all but a plot and storyline that was very stale and desperate to show its woke campaigning credentials. The script was therefore tired to the point of being moribund and one that became tediously predictable after the first episode. Yet again we have the white cops = racist and evil whilst no member of any minority can possibly be shown as a culprit . In this series there was not a single significant white character who wasn't contemptible and evil or at the most charitable, deeply misguided. By contrast, all those of minority heritages were admirable, sypathetic and guilty only of resisting the "racist oppression of the fascist British state". Yawn! Really, in spite of one or two clever twists, this plot suffered badly from the now mandatory requirement to comply wth these appalling sterotypes to get anything produced by UK companies and that's a pity. Nobody disputes that these messages are of value and meaningful in today's society but must they a) be so crudely handled seemingly assuming that all viewers are stupid and b) so all-pervasive in every single drama we now see? One keeps hoping for change in this dimension but there is no sign of it yet on the horizon.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

Bodies is overall an excellent series that deserves praise. I would have scored it more highly but it suffers from some problems - more on those later. On the plus side, the acting is excellent, as one would expect from a very strong cast. Notable is Shira Haas who manages to communicate a certain 'other worldliness' and convincing emotional conflict - that later is something that has defeated many actors over time but she pulls it off well. The storyline is interesting and solid, though not exactly original, as some of the principles of this ground have been covered before. However it's atmospheric and very well directed with a degree of expense on the location shooting which is admirable. No endless (and pointless) 20-minute discussions between two people in a room here. The 'science' is reasonably well done. OK, it's thin and largely nonsense but fine if you've had a glass or two of wine and don't ask too many questions. The philosophy behind the paradoxes is touched on sufficiently enough to be interesting but without being overdone. The outcome was perhaps fairly predictable but well done and with a hint of mystery left at the end. So, thoroughly enjoyable in most respects - but why a lower grade? Well, there are some weaknesses. There are a few inconsistencies in the storyline - albeit minor ones. The scenes set in the late 19thC and particularly 1941 contain some howling errors suggesting a lack of research. Also, the all-pervasive nature of the 'cult' over time seems not well thought-through and is very parochial. Those are all relatively minor and forgivable points though. The main problem I have with the series is that, yet again, like all British productions now it seems obliged to tick every moralising box on the checklist of proclaiming its credentials. By as little as early as 7 minutes into episode one, we could put ticks in the boxes of it portraying the now mandatory illustrations of a) racism, b)fascism, c)anti-semitism and d)misogyny. I was getting worried the screenwriters and producers had missed e) homophobia but fortunately that arrived shortly afterwards in the now equally obligatory repressed homosexuaity and anti-gay sentiment storyline. I do not doubt these things exist in our society and are all great evils but must we have crusading depictions against them, usually very poorly drawn, in every single drama that now comes out of the UK? The drama building-block set was completed by the eventual depiction of a semi-beneficient future society but one which proved to be ultimately undemocratic, vaguely fascist and oppresive. Yes, once again, it's "The Empire" wheeled out. These patently obvious crudities looked distinctly out of place in an otherwise excellent script. I assume that's because it's now impossible to get a book published or drama produced unless they contain such examples of virtue-signalling. That's a pity but hopefully one day a writer or screenwriter will feel brave enough to break the shackles of these absurd conventions. A series well worth watching.

I have gone neutral on this rather than negative only because this series has two redeeming features that are praiseworthy - a) the acting which is generally excellent and b) the production, which is technically brilliant albeit with one major caveat. Apart from that, it is an unmitigated disaster in terms of scriptwriting. Plenty of other reviewers have mentioned this. Essentially, this is a series of not-very-interesting interpersonal relationship dramas as the mainline story with the alien invasion providing little more than some backdrop scenery. It remains an ongoing mystery why production companies do this. For heaven's sake, if you want to make a series about personal relationships then by all means do so. However, if you brand something as Sci-Fi then make the bulk of your story and mainline plot about that!!!! Why is this seemingly so difficult for so many writers and producers to grasp these days? By all means, use sub-plots. Equally, some background detail on the characters is useful to pad them out and make them real. However, those two components together should constitute perhaps 10-15% of the storyline. In this mess, it feels like the inter-personal stuff takes up about 75% of the time available for the story to progress. The answer is presumably cost reduction. To have two characters spending 10 minutes talking about their past lives is I assume a lot cheaper than filming on location. Yet when all this is said and done - THIS IS BORING AND ANNOYING!!!! Frankly, the characters aren't interesting enough for people to care about and it's not even well written. The next major failing is the cut-and-paste into the script of tropes that are 50 years past their sell-by date. Once again, presumably attributable to cost reduction, as one doesn't have to pay decent writers to cut script but simply glue into place pre-packaged drivel. Let's examine them **** have the: Trope 1 subplot - the all-American dysfunctional family with a husband-wife about to split and the obligatory 2 precocious brat young children who run around saying "I love you Mommy" at every opportunity shortly before doing something so incredibly stupid that it endangers everyone's life. At least this time they were missing the usually mandatory dog that takes over in trying to kill everyone when the kids are otherwise occupied. Oh yes, don't forget the "right kids, it's desperately dangerous, so I'm going to leave you alone while I go off and engage in a meaningless discussion about personal issues elsewhere. Please don't go anywhere". Yeah, right. You'll be stunned to know that events start to force the couple back together. Try to suppress a yawn if you can. Who on Earth do the writers think this sort of stuff is going to interest? Trope 2 subplot - the bunch of younger (this time British for novelty) teenagers, one of whom saves everyone with magic powers branded with a pseudo-science explanation for respectability's sake. OK, leaving aside they miraculously survive unharmed a bus crash that would certainly have killed all of them instantly, we're then subjected to lots of inter-personal discussion about essentially their relationships. Once again, who are the writers aiming this at? Teenagers know what it's like to be one and adults can remember. So why do we need to see all this? Is it aimed at toddlers? Trope 3 subplot - the grizzled US soldier or marine who also has a marriage on the rocks. He's going to get home to his family from Afghanistan whatever it takes. Cue lots of emotional phone calls and square-jaw determination. Does nobody anywhere in a script anymore have a 'normal' husband-wife and family relationship that is at least predominantly happy? These I believe are still the vast majority, so why are they invisible in modern drama? Trope 4 subplot - the same-sex relationship that's hidden due to society's prejudices etc etc etc. Now here, I'll concede that the exploration of this personal relationship in Japan IS relevant because it is directly linked to the story and its outcome. So, no problem there in theory. However, it is over-dwelt on and is sickly-sweet. Far too long is spent on it too and I fail to see the necessity of introducing one of the partners' fathers just to add to the emotional and relationship burden that is swamping the plot. Still, the writers held off introducing several third cousins twice removed and lengthy explanations about their backgrounds, so I suppose we should be grateful. I was very surprised to see there is a series II to this. I hope against all expectations some of these catastrophic writing flaws will have been addressed. The caveat about production - why oh why is so much of the shooting done in near darkness again? Trying to pick out what's happening in the gloom isn't fun and it's a massively outdated technique these days.

I didn't expect to like this series but in fact I have. It's far from original and the concept of the storyline, endless friendship through the ages and life's stresses, has been done many times before. However, the execution here is very good and the acting admirable. It's also helped by some really good dynamics between the two women in the lead roles. Maybe in real life they hated each other but on screen, it's very believable that they're lifelong pals. On the downside, there are endless layers of quite tacky sentimentality thrown in and of course, some of the propositions in the script are irreconcilably in conflict with what we see on screen. For example, nobody is going to believe that very good-looking women really are going to find it difficult to encounter men that are interested in them! Hollywood's been asking us to believe that one for a hundred years and it's getting very tiresome. It's just not what happens in life. Even so, good series and well done to all involved.

Only so far caught season 1. The series is 'OK' and there are a few comments and scenarios I've been able to smile at but on the whole, I've found it rather bland and simplistic. The actors work hard and generally very well but the material they're working with is too vanilla and too woke / PC to boot. It's also covered in far too much American syrup to be really funny. The entire basis of this is the "loopy American amongst the starchy Brits who manages by his zaniness to get them to all lighten up" and that one has been visited endless times since the 1930s. There's little new here. It's a very jaded theme that has been done far better elsewhere - and very frequently. Add to that its determination to be inclusive and the above-mentioned 'sugary supercute' and overall, I found myself wondering why I was watching it. At least in series 1, there's no edgyness, no provocative humour and no real belly laughs. Sadly, this is reflective of the untold damage wokism and vanilla comedy has inflicted on the international humour scene over the past 20 years or so. Little wonder the old comedy sketches and series from the 1990s and earlier are so popular still. Will I watch more of this show? Not sure. For me at least, it's a close call.

This is a great show and it makes a pleasant change from the usual tired genres that are now the norm. It's just a nice stroll looking at real (ish) people dealing with life's issues as they encounter them. We haven't got monsters, superheroes, villans, shoot-everything-that-moves or plastic infantile relationships but instead adult dialogue, adult scenarios and flawed human characters who don't seem like they've just rolled off the Hollywood production line for stereotypes. For once, you actually have to exercise your grey matter in order to keep track of what's happening and follow the storyline. Now in truth, it isn't perfect. The Japanese and French characters do seem a little sterotypical at times in the cultural sense. The series also tries a bid too hard to be 'cute' from time to time and the plot is really quite implausible but that is offset by its novelty. It has also telegraphed in advance one or two of the twists in the storyline meaning they were very predictable but these criticisms are all really nit-picking. It's also nice to see something where for once there really isn't a 'baddy' in sight (so far). I found the acting excellent. If you like something that requires a little bit of concentration, you should give this a try.

Very entertaining show. Good writing with some nice slightly surreal humour thrown in - plus some great quick-fire verbal exchanges. Top-notch acting from all concerned helps the scripts move along nicely. This shows owes a lot to "in the thick of it" and "in the loop" in terms of inspirations. Like everything though, it's far from perfect. The semi-serious political backdrop theme is stretching reality to breaking point and is arguably absurd. Of course, it may be intentionally so. However, a highly belligerent UK trying to **** the US into a gulf war is presumably trying to be ironic given recent history but as a storyline it doesn't quite work. Quite a few of the UK politics portrayals seem to be essentially US political cultural norms just with UK actors, a Union Jack and British accents stuck on top. It's not quite convincing. The big weakness though is the portrayal of the relationships(s). The ambassador and her husband have a relationship that's comically amusing but also slightly irritating and impossibly unlikely. The attraction between her and the UK minister (who had a wife that obligingly died just before things started - yes, that stale one has been wheeled out of storage again) is also awful and infantile. 1940s style "we've had two sips of whisky so are now instantly giggly & drunk just a few seconds after someone died in front of us and whoops, I've spilled some on your blouse so please let me wipe it off with a hanky thereby touching your breast..." Yawn - teenager level stuff really. It's not very sophisticated penning and seems painfully out of context with the remaining writing which is pretty much excellent. In spite of those few flaws, it's a celeverly crafted piece of work supported by some good acting. A welcome addition to the viewing list.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]