TV Times

Just finished watching Dopesick on Disney+
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9174558/

The series takes viewers to the epicenter of America's struggle with opioid addiction, from the boardrooms of Purdue Pharma, to a distressed Virginia mining community, to the hallways of the DEA.

I thought it was a very good 9/10

Slow Horses
8.5/10

Slough House is a dumping ground for members of the intelligence service who've screwed up: left a service file on a train, blown a surveillance, or become drunkenly unreliable. They're the service's poor relations. The slow horses and most bitter among them is River Cartwright, whose days are spent transcribing mobile-phone conversations. But when a young man is abducted, and his kidnappers threaten to behead him live on the Internet, River sees an opportunity to redeem himself. But is the victim who he first appears to be? And what's the kidnappers' connection with a disgraced journalist? As the clock ticks on the execution, River finds that everyone involved has their own agenda.

As I’ve covered previously I love the genre so I maybe be biased but I really enjoyed this. It’s not perfect and I’m sure people could find fault if they were inclined to do so but for me,  it’s an excellent series overall. Gary Oldman is great in this too-no surprise really but deserves a special mention. The rest of the cast were good also. Definitely worth a watch.

Quoted from Sandford1981

Slow Horses
8.5/10

Slough House is a dumping ground for members of the intelligence service who've screwed up: left a service file on a train, blown a surveillance, or become drunkenly unreliable. They're the service's poor relations. The slow horses and most bitter among them is River Cartwright, whose days are spent transcribing mobile-phone conversations. But when a young man is abducted, and his kidnappers threaten to behead him live on the Internet, River sees an opportunity to redeem himself. But is the victim who he first appears to be? And what's the kidnappers' connection with a disgraced journalist? As the clock ticks on the execution, River finds that everyone involved has their own agenda.

As I’ve covered previously I love the genre so I maybe be biased but I really enjoyed this. It’s not perfect and I’m sure people could find fault if they were inclined to do so but for me,  it’s an excellent series overall. Gary Oldman is great in this too-no surprise really but deserves a special mention. The rest of the cast were good also. Definitely worth a watch.

I'm in general agreement and would give it 8/10.

Gary Oldman the standout, as you say, which is no surprise.

Quoted from ginnywings

I'm in general agreement and would give it 8/10.

Gary Oldman the standout, as you say, which is no surprise.

The second series has already been filmed and it’s recommissioned for a 3rd and Forth too so good news.
You could almost smell his farts couldn’t you?! 😂

Red Election (Disney+) 5/10

It was honestly going to be a solid 8 out of 10....but the last 2 episodes and how it ends just ruined the show for me.

MI5 have a major issue on their hands trying to battle a mysterious Russian terror plot codenamed 'redback' with the help of a Danish intelligence officer whilst a Scottish independence election is taking place.  Lots of drama, explosions, guns, nerve agents, intrigue and thrills until it unfortunately tries to stretch itself into a second series.  Until that the point the characters are great, the plot tight and the action is great right up until the end where it all falls apart.

I would say it's worth a watch, even if I hate the ending, because you may like it even if I'm not sold and there's some genuinely good episodes

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
9/10

Epic drama set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings' follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth.

I didn’t watch this weekly so I could binge it at my leisure. Unfortunately I picked up on some criticism and so it altered my expectation a little. I had been very excited about this for some time.
I must qualify my view here a little bit and admit my frame of reference is the 80s (Edit; 70s) cartoon movie and then the more recent films, all of which I adore. I have never read the books and I’m not a LOTR nerd either. I’d imagine this helps as not to be disappointed by certain aspects of it.
Overall I thought it brilliant after a somewhat slow burn beginning. It brought out the excited kid in me and with all the heavy grown up Shiite going on that is no bad thing. Brilliant escapism at its best for me!

Quoted from Sandford1981

The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
9/10

Epic drama set thousands of years before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit' and 'The Lord of the Rings' follows an ensemble cast of characters, both familiar and new, as they confront the long-feared re-emergence of evil to Middle-earth.

I didn’t watch this weekly so I could binge it at my leisure. Unfortunately I picked up on some criticism and so it altered my expectation a little. I had been very excited about this for some time.
I must qualify my view here a little bit and admit my frame of reference is the 80s (Edit; 70s) cartoon movie and then the more recent films, all of which I adore. I have never read the books and I’m not a LOTR nerd either. I’d imagine this helps as not to be disappointed by certain aspects of it.
Overall I thought it brilliant after a somewhat slow burn beginning. It brought out the excited kid in me and with all the heavy grown up Shiite going on that is no bad thing. Brilliant escapism at its best for me!

I also waited until I could binge watch and have seen only the one episode so far. Promising start.

Just finished Karen Pirie which I would give 7/10.

Been a Val McDermid fan for some time and have read a lot of her books, so was familiar with the character of Detective Karen Pirie from the book series.

She's an unorthodox and slightly awkward Scottish detective who is given a cold case to re-open after it receives renewed interest from an internet blogger. In order to make it look like they are doing something about it, Police Scotland hand the case to her thinking she hasn't got the chops to make any headway, but they underestimate her capabilities, and she uncovers stuff that they didn't want uncovering.

It's a bit of a cliched plot and I guessed the ending before it was revealed. It's six hours long, over three episodes of 120 mins and I just about made it to the end having more or less figured out what was going to happen.

Thinking about it, I reckon 6/10 is more like it. The acting isn't the best and the character from the books just doesn't come over on the small screen.

Disappointing.

Quoted from ginnywings

I also waited until I could binge watch and have seen only the one episode so far. Promising start.

Just finished Karen Pirie which I would give 7/10.

Been a Val McDermid fan for some time and have read a lot of her books, so was familiar with the character of Detective Karen Pirie from the book series.

She's an unorthodox and slightly awkward Scottish detective who is given a cold case to re-open after it receives renewed interest from an internet blogger. In order to make it look like they are doing something about it, Police Scotland hand the case to her thinking she hasn't got the chops to make any headway, but they underestimate her capabilities, and she uncovers stuff that they didn't want uncovering.

It's a bit of a cliched plot and I guessed the ending before it was revealed. It's six hours long, over three episodes of 120 mins and I just about made it to the end having more or less figured out what was going to happen.

Thinking about it, I reckon 6/10 is more like it. The acting isn't the best and the character from the books just doesn't come over on the small screen.

Disappointing.

We enjoyed Karen Pirie for what it was-a gentle enough and easy watch. I have never read those books but I was a big fan of the tv series Wire in the Blood which is Val if memory serves.

Wire in the Blood is derived from the series of books featuring Dr Tony Hill and Detective Carol Jordan and are among McDermid's best works.

Again, I was disappointed with the TV series mainly because of casting Robson Green in the main role. Can't watch him, terrible actor.

I didn't get on with Karen Pirie because again, it was a disappointing adaptation and didn't capture the books at all well.

Quoted from ginnywings

Wire in the Blood is derived from the series of books featuring Dr Tony Hill and Detective Carol Jordan and are among McDermid's best works.

Again, I was disappointed with the TV series mainly because of casting Robson Green in the main role. Can't watch him, terrible actor.

I didn't get on with Karen Pirie because again, it was a disappointing adaptation and didn't capture the books at all well.

I liked Robson Green as Tony Hill. So did the better half although I suspect she liked him for entirely different reasons to me!

Are there any tv adaptations of books that you liked or exceeded your expectations or bettered a book for you?