Alan Colman

I have met all of these characters in my life,there is a large grain of truth in the basis of all of them,for me anyway. The series brilliantly compresses events and characters in to a highly watchable format,sure in real life maybe things dont happen at such a pace,but this is TV. And it is TV at its best ,I grew up around such people in the 70s ,a crazy balance of outrageous law breaking ,loyalty and compassion and humanity.A hodgepoge of Irish ,Carribean and some asians struggling to get out of poverty and find a way through. Most made it and are today respectable and good people who are as straight as they come. Poor parenting,glass ceilings ,indifferent education and expectations along with very real mental health and poverty issues create somwhat desparate characters in real life. This series shows the humour,compassion and love that even the naughtiest society members display. Its hilarious mostly but has the capability to make you weep at times. The situations may seem totally unrealistic but they do happen ! If you cant connect with this its just a case of moving in different circles.Brilliant social observation scripting,screenplay and top notch casting. A classic for sure.

Very emotional ,caught me on the hop, some agonising scenes that resonate in real life. I found the camerawork distracting and nearly gave up early on. In truth I think the camera work was designed to cause irritation and stress,this was a very clever technique which added to the distress being acted out by brilliant actors. I felt quite connected and drained. Absolutely brilliant.