User reviews

Mr P has toned down his usual artificiality, created a time and place that more or less convinces and put together an exciting plot with a real dénouement. He deserves kudos for managing all this after many years of not doing so. Perhaps all the BBC money they have thrown in his direction has started to pay off at last. Toby Stephens is excellent, as is Keeley Hawes (as usual). Everyone else is good too and little Toby Woolf is a delight. There are faults. Yes, there is a coherent dénouement but it's not without clichés (one particularly egregious one involving guns) and some sickly sweetness. Adrian Edmondson's TV shows are embarrassingly unfunny. The subplots, while interesting, are in fact superfluous. There is the one about the missing son, which is included, I guess,to give Keeley Hawes and Clare Bloom things to do. The daughter's daft scenes at Buckingham Palace and the expensive ball with hordes of debs are also of only tangential relevance.

Poliakoff again! A very frustrating writer/director. Production values high... But... As usual... Unconvincing characters, stilted dialogue, and constant creation and maintenance of tension over inconsequential issues. How does he get work!?

Summer Of Rockets

When I started watching this I wanted to scream, perhaps it was the time and the subject matter, the script seemed so stilted and forced and bearing in mind it's only 1953 the situations are really quite ridiculous.

I am a fan of Steven Poliacoffs work but this was really most challenging.

What was good,

1, the acting was first rate, the characters were well developed, and we warmed to them.

2, whilst this was a slow burn it gathered momentum and ended up quite gripping.

3, it was pure entertainment it kept away from liberal authoritarian condemnation of a less liberal past, this gave it some historical accuracy.

4, the styling was brilliant it was worth watching for this alone.

5, the comprehensive atmosphere of 50's claustrophobia and restrictive rule was comprehensively realised.

What was less good,

1, it was so slow, drama must be a compression of reality over conflict.

2, drama is a contrivance necessarily but we felt so many scenes were contrived and this needs to be more invisible.

3, accents were over clipped and we had quite a deal of stereotyping. Perhaps this was over directed.

Whilst I overall enjoyed this but I think the day has gone when you can do Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy on a BBC reduced budget.

BBC no more of this please!