Kate Hill

This programme started out well, but the episodes become very formulaic over time and the stories seem similar. Many of the reviews I have read talk about the “gritty reality” of the show, and while the characters are not the glossy, beautiful people you might see on an American crime drama, they still lack the roundness of real people. A small team of investigators working together all the time would have some banter, some in-jokes and a few laughs together. Even with the formal rank structure, it might be expected that Mathias would say to his team to call him by his first name when the big boss wasn’t around. The big boss (Superintendent) also wouldn’t be so angry and divisive all the time, if he was any good he would be looking out for his team, managing the media, and assisting the DI with extra staff and resources. In this show he is just a angry, mean authoritarian. There is no joy in this show, just long meaningful staring at each other and the way the Mathias keeps staring at children, supposedly to convey his wish for his own children, is just creepy and weird. And one final thing, if this team was genuinely dealing with this number of murders.....they would be completely bogged down. I have just watched the first series and if was a murder in every episode. Wales is a dangerous place....clearly.