Brenda Woodward

I had problems with series 1 - episodes 1 and 2. Emma - the love interest just didn't gel and that put me off Dalgliesh. I found myself wondering how an intelligent insightful man would go for someone who appeared as weak, easily manipulated and slow on the uptake...The best friend was another strange glitch in the storyline. This friend seemed to rule over Emma, ordering her about and lying to her, yet when Emma discovers she had deceived her she still gives her a letter to deliver to Dalgliesh (I don't think so...). Some of the other characters also came across as 'out of context' and unrealistic according to their setting. Perhaps the cast was ill-chosen and interpreted their parts unsympathetically, who knows. What I do know is that this put me off the storyline which, I have to confess, didn't really hold my attention.

I am not a fan of uptight, violent about to erupt characters who are also occupying the position of detective or other similar law keepers. I am sorry, but the two do not mix, it is too distracting and confuses the viewer/reader. Marcella is unconvincing; there is nothing likeable or even remotely understandable about her characterisation. I feel that Anna Friel has overplayed ‘Marcella’, and halfway through Series 1, I almost gave up watching. The action moves in fits and starts, sometimes things jog along at a reasonable pace for a while and then there is an outburst, which seems to come out of nowhere. Characters do things out of character, which don’t make sense and don’t add to the storyline except to make you think ‘Huh! What was all that about?’ Series 1 dragged on and on – into Series 2 where we find that none of our characters show any signs of improvement, in fact, they all seem to get depressingly worse. The Serial Killer turns out to be someone who most people dislike but there were no signs during his youth or adult years of what he would become, he even has a real best friend. I am also fed up with the children of police/detectives turning out bad and then the action centring on how the parents handle it or don’t handle it and the chaos that ensues which results in laws being broken, rules bent and solutions found. There are a lot of nasty things lurking in the background in Marcella and I think I have had enough of them for a while. Overall, the series was watchable but I think I will only watch another series of this programme if I have nothing better on offer at that time.

I used to love this show but now, unfortunately, I rarely watch it. I have developed an aversion to Lucy's replacement Martina Maxwell. I find that I am unable to watch the programme with the sound turned on as something about Maxwell's voice grates on my nerves. I am also developing an aversion to her mannerisms and this is detracting from my ability to take in what is happening on the show with regard to the 'homes under the hammer'. I hope that her contract with the show is a short one.