Southcliffe

Sometimes, stuff just happens, and it's not always pretty. 'Southcliffe' fictionalises rare but real stories when a loner has flipped and gone out and shot up his not so loving local community; and as such, it's quite realistic. The problem is, there isn't any real narrative here (at least, nothing sufficiently meaty to justify the happenings); and although in part this is the entire point of the series, it's also a slightly self-defeating point to make in a drama. It's hard to feel too involved when there's no underlying cause to events: the story of a journalist caught up in events has a similar, believable but essentially arbitrary feel. I often like series that give us no easy answers; but in the absence even of any real questions, this one didn't do it for me.

Southcliffe, a sleepy English town suffers a major tragedy, innocent people are gunned down by Stephen Morton for no apparent reason, Journalist David Whitehead attempts to get to the bottom of why.

It's a bleak watch, don't expect any cheer or light hearted moments, this is a tough watch. Very solid from start to finish, for me the best episode is the first one, you learn so much from it.

It jumps around a little in terms of timeframe, so it does need a degree of concentration. Some very big characters, some you'll like, most you won't, the worst perhaps being Paul, who really is a monster.

Sean Harris leads initially before handing over to Rory Kinnear, the pair are terrific.

David keeps on saying they should have seen it coming, was he right? I think so.

Very good 8/10.

This tries to be different and in the process just ends up a confused mess.

Could have been a decent crime mini series had it been told in a traditional way, but the way the time lines chop and change just end up making the whole thing disjointed. I thought I was going a bit loopy at first when things from a previous scene were repeated were repeated, it took a while to cotton on that this was the way the story was being told.

In its favour it does have a real sense of grimness to it, but that's not enough to rescue it unfortunately.

The acting is of a high calibre for the most part throughout and cinematography is atmospheric.

However, it just doesn't gel.

This is the first time I have seen anyone brave enough to point the finger at the community. 'Oddballs' are often as much the product of the community as they are self determination. There are always people in small towns who are picked on and abused, stripped of the self confidence to leave the situation, unable to withstand the status quo. That spree killings don't happen more often I find miraculous. Some people have nothing to lose, society has taken it all away. This is an excellent piece of drama, finely acted, brave enough to remove the focus away from the perpetrator for the majority of the 4 episodes. The really SHOULD have seen it coming.

And then episode 4 happened. I got very confused. Claire was bonkers, I had not the first inkling what Chris was doing, nor the journalist dude, nor Chris's uncle. In fact the whole thing turned into a giant "Huh?" I couldn't quite grasp the reasoning behind any of their actions/behaviour. Nor did I really care as none of the characters were either likeable or relatable. A shame.