User reviews

I have just sat through the entire series in one evening. It was far from 'boring', in fact i found it to be one of the best things I've seen on the BBC all year. I have seen some comments on other sites which quibble over small inaccurate historical details - such as the Midlands bus in episode 1 - but I find that sort of critque nit-picky, especially if you take into account the FEEL of the show, in the way it is both acted and shot. I found myself loving and hating all the characters, trying to figure out what they'd do next, how they would cope with this or that. As for the show being 'depressing', well, quite honestly - what did someone watching a show about WW1 expect? You get what you sign up for. Yes, it is depressing, but its the kind of sad that makes your heart swell and your mind race, waiting impatiently for the next episode to start loading to see where they'll take us on this highly emotional journey. It felt dirty, beautiful and very real indeed. High props. Lovers of period drama, a MUST SEE.

I am having withdrawal symptoms from this now having watched the whole series and revisited episode 1.

Yes, it's pretty bleak at times - and it hardly breaks the stereotype of it being a tad grim up North - but then it probably was everywhere let alone Oop North when WW1 broke out- and as a massive John Simm fan, it's tough watching him play this unendearing character. But stick with it, and you are rewarded with seeing some amazing performances unfold. Maxine Peake deserves a special nod for her moving portrayal of Joe and Bert's mum. How much heartache can a woman take??? A lot, it seems.

It's beautifully shot, beautifully acted, almost incessantly grim, but you do care about enough of the characters to want to keep on watching.

I would recommend a second viewing as I am doing now, and enjoying it even more now I know what happens and can just focus on the performances and period detail done as only BBC can.

This is a real winner for me, and I am really looking forward to Series 2.

Criminally underrated writer/producer, Peter Moffat, showcases his prodigious versatility by following up his brilliant legal drama, Silk, with the equally compelling The Village.

The Village chronicles the lives of the inhabitants of a small country town as they struggle to adjust to the turbulent societal upheaval brought about by the First World War. From the gentry to the poverty stricken working class, the shocking realities behind closed doors belie the idyllic surrounds of the Derbyshire countryside.

The Village is far from feel good entertainment. It's dark themes and gritty period realism creates viewing that is often emotionally harrowing, but undeniably brilliant.

Despite the explosive era in which it is set, the narrative threads of the series are predominately insular and familial, relying on interpersonal relationships to create drama. The results are riveting, primarily thanks to the vast array of intriguing characters and superb performances by the stellar cast. Moffat is a genius at writing fascinatingly unconventional characters that are neither heroes nor villains, but ambiguously grey. Unlike many male writers, he also consistently imbues his shows with multifaceted females roles that are equally if not more dynamic than their male counterparts.

Moffat's leading lady from Silk, Maxine Peake, is the emotional center of the series. Peake remains one of the finest actresses working today and if there is any justice The Village should garner her some long overdue recognition.

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Yes I agree it's mournful, depressing, grim and harsh but that was the reality of life then. If your harvest failed your family could die, there was no public money, or other jobs to be had if you lived in a small remote community.

In fact watching a drama which is so well executed, scripted (and stunningly filmed) reminds me of how fortunate we are today. It's also poignant to see the excitement of those enlisting to World War one, a very real honour at the time and what subsequently twisted into an unimaginable horror. How much has changed in 100 years, how well the BBC has done in creating another masterpiece series.

A little perspective is a wonderful thing and I certainly recommend this series to those who have a penchant for social drama, as I do.

We are all one family, as the Latin saying goes, and THE VILLAGE is an excellent proof to it.First,cheers to the script writer!Mr. Moffat has managed to tell us the simple things of everyday life of simple people without being banal;he presents heart-breaking stories without making them cheap melodrama;he is very meticulous in showing the historical background of the events without making them text-bookish boring.Second,excellent acting!True, nowadays, the British school of acting is the best in the world.Not a single false note or a gesture;perfect(as is a rule in all British films)enunciation and intonation in the speech of all, socially and educationally very different, protagonists.Third,a very good direction:all episodes are logically and emotionally connected,giving the viewers the complete understanding of the motivation of the heroes' actions. I just wish THE VILLAGE a long and successful screen life!

This is undeniably excellent, even I cried at the end because it was so poignant although I won't give the plot away. What makes this so good is that unlike a lot of normal period dramas that depict the mainly upper classes classes of this period, this looks at almost every aspect of life in the village during this period despite primarily focusing on one particular family.

I had the pleasure of visiting Derbyshire during the summer and was moved at how well it was depicted in this. The entire drama itself actually moved me to the point that it was something that I immediately wanted to see again. It shows that unlike the gloss of Downton Abbey, despite the fact that I do like that, life was actually very brutal for a large majority of people at the time. What makes this equally so moving is the fact that it left me with a certain numbness at the end and moved me to tears as though it reminded me of how precious life is and the beauty of England in equal measure.

The Oldest Briton looks back on life in a rural English village during WWI, much of which he seemingly learned about through constant lurking and eavesdropping. The usual suspects are all here: indomitable mother, alcoholic father, idealistic preacher's kid, grasping bourgeoisie, scheming parvenu, morally bankrupt upper class scion, disillusioned upper class scion, nutso upper class daughter, conchie, and...brother Joe. It's Joe's story that occasionally elevates The Village, especially in E5. Otherwise, it drifts along comfortably, with nice acting-especially from Rupert Evans and the ever-reliable Juliet Stevenson-disguising the pedestrian screenplay.

The Village captures you with it's imagery, but holds you with the characters and superb acting. It's sometimes hard to watch as the grim reality of early 20th century rural English life is relentless.

The BBC should be praised for not giving it a coat of historical whitewash and trying to depict life in the period with with both the warts and the beauty. Ultimately it is the characters that you become invested in. Not the stock portrayals of the noble working class or morally vacuous upper class. The main characters have layers and depth that makes them both interesting and empathetic. They are brought to life by terrific performances and you believe them completely.

Overall this is superbly done.

IN A NUTSHELL: Wonderful cast of talented actors, terrific cinematography. Terrible scriptwriting to the point where at times it's nearly unwatchable.

It would take far too long and too many words to detail what's wrong with this production, and you don't want the spoilers anyway. So I'll give you the mile-high viewpoint, and if you watch, see if you agree.

Above all, this is yet another depiction of the 19th and 20th Century chock-full of spurious 21st Century mores. As if people THEN thought the same way people do NOW. That ruins the historicity of it for me.

The writers are far too intent on preaching modernist socio-political thought to give you an accurate depiction of life in rural England in the 1910s, 20s and 30s.

In every instance of moral dilemma - which after all is what drama is inevitably about - what someone WANTS is always given precedence over what they OUGHT to do from a traditional ethical and moral perspective. In fact, "what one ought to do" is uniformly presented as stunted or even evil. No, you shouldn't honor your marriage vows if you FEEL like doing something else. No, you shouldn't hold fast to your religious convictions, because religion is for nutters. Feel like having sex on the spur of the moment? Go for it; it's what you WANT to do (outmoded ideas of moral fidelity are barbaric anyway).

I watched this because the actors in the drama manage to rise above bad writing and horribly inaccurate social history. The scenes of rural life are breathtaking.

But the story is not. It's maudlin, prissy and factually inaccurate.

Excellent photography and detailed realistic sets, dress, and etc. The bleak reality of farm life in a small isolated Yorkshire farm. When I think of England it is the England of the countryside , small villages and farms.This York. program is set earlier than Herriots era. It shows the brutal reality of life before social program s to aid in support. One could say this life was kind of glossed over in Herriots series and Downton Abbey dom. My wifes reaction was the series was depressing. I think it is a realistic one. A quality British TV program. I has it all. Ingrained idiot upper class, local folk in awe of these fools while carrying water and doing their scut work. Activist suffragette , innocent patriotic war fervor, WW1 and enlisting as a positive move up. Very limited prospects in the country - I think a mass movement to the cities had been happening during this period. Prospects n the UK had gotten worse as competition with other nations- Germany and the US intensified. Quality TV.

I watched the first series of the village and was completely glued. The events surrounding the first world war were particularly moving and made one think of how terrible a time it must have been. The time generally, of course, was quite hard for the working class people and this and the class divide are vividly brought to life in this well shot and directed series. John Simm and Maxine Peake are always great and they don't disappoint in this, indeed all of the acting is excellent. The story is gritty and mainly revolves around a couple of families with other characters dipping in and out of the story. Having said all of that I am utterly perplexed as to why the second series has suddenly become: 'The Village - a period soap'. Why on earth are we suddenly faced with what female loves what male etc. etc. to the exclusion of any real meat on the bones? I for one would like a return to what life must have been like and what challenges people faced at the time rather than tipping my hat to Mr and Mrs, or whatever the case may be. So I have to give the second series a rather paltry 4 out of 10 and hope that someone sees some sense and doesn't miss a great opportunity to carry on making a more realistic program that has an edge to it.

I thought I would love this as a good historical series with beautiful scenery. It starts out well with good character development led by the old man retelling his life stories. I had to stop at episode three, realizing that this series has every trope and stereotype you can think of. There's the drunk father, abusive husband, rampant misogyny, mean abusive school teacher and corrupt business owners, in this case boot makers. Really, there isn't a scene in it so far that makes you want to keep watching. Awful men in every category including the soldiers. Surely there had to be SOME good people you could have included.

To say this is absorbing is an understatement. The writers spared no detail when writing about the brutality of village life in early 20th century England. The story is fascinating. The characters are multi dimensional. It left me thinking about the story days later. The content is so rich you need to watch it multiple times to absorb the depth. You end up mourning for characters who exit the storyline. I'm a BBC period piece junkie. This is easily one of the best of the hundreds, if not thousands I've seen. My other favorites include Foyle's War, The Forsyte Saga and The Way We Live Now. It deserves the IMDB rating it's received from everyone who's rated it.

The Village is an emotional workout. The British create period dramas and produce actors that paint pictures of period life. In modern day America, we have no clue of the hardships of WW I and II Europe. Dramas such as this gives us a glimpse.

My wife and I loved episodes 1 and 2. After that it seemed like things moved too slowly... work episodes 3 and 4 not gripping us. Episode 5 was good but seemed a little disjointed (we even had to double check the DVD to make sure we have actually missed an episode). After finishing episode 6, we decided it wasn't worth watching season 2 despite those episodes being on the DVD.

First, I just love Maxine Peake. Her relationship with Peter Moffat is so reminiscent of that between Billie Whitelaw and Samuel Beckett. For me, she can do no wrong...but this series, about a working Derbyshire family with its sometimes unremitting grimness of life, has more...

The entire cast portrays three-dimensional living, loving, flawed characters. No bland platitudes of Downton Abbey with its Karma Sutra of master-servant relationships, but an honest look at the exploitation of class and the difficulty of getting through it all. Even the Allinghams, the "toffs" in this masterpiece, are complex and edgy.

The series is just wonderfuland the now final episode brought me to tears with a combination of beautiful, "can't see the wheels go round" acting, occasional music, and political passion.

The message for today is underlined by Pikerty in his "Capital." The one-percent rich are still with us and the exploitation of the working man is almost complete (and that includes middle class professionals) as automation makes their labor irrelevant. The rich can at last reflect on their fortune, in both senses, and convince themselves they have done it all themselves. The Allinghams march on, as so do we, the Middletons, and Tolpuddle Martyrs of this world...remember, "they are few, but we are many."

This gritty series is so relevant today, so much more than a nostalgic review of languid privilege. It points the way. Socialism is not dead, but is needed for the coming years - that and passion.

This series has it all. It's the best of television since Dennis Potter.

Through the pandemic we've pretty much watched all the recent offerings, and stumbled upon The Village. Wow, are we ever glad that we gave it a try. Excellent story with the right mix of villains and heroes. Highly recommended.

I have just discovered and watched the first 2 seasons of The Village and cannot believe that the third season was ever cancelled. It was absolutely amazing with a incredible story line and cast.

What were the BBC thinking.

This is one of the best series I have ever seen, and I have seen many. In particular, I loved the acting of John Simm in this. He was given such a rich, complex character to play- first as an abusive alcoholic, then becoming a "witnessing" Christian, and finally, towards the end of the series, gradually changing into a good father, so that his youngest child knew and lived with a very different father than his older sons experienced. Not to mention what happens to Simm's character at the end, which the actor handles with grace and seamlessness.

My raves about Simm's acting do not take away anything from the superb acting of Maxine Peale, who portrays a strong mother who too changes and grows throughout the series. In fact, "changes and grows" is the reason I love this series. Too many tv series today have either essentially unlikeable leading characters, or static individuals who neither change nor grow. In this show, we are given the treat of watching human beings live their lives, and sometimes they even learn from their mistakes. That's what makes us care, I think. Throughout the series I am rooting for Grace, Bert, Joe, John, the teacher, and even some of the family up at the Big House.

The other series that makes me root for characters is Downton Abbey, to which this series is often compared. "A bleaker Downton Abbey", some reviewers say, either liking the bleakness or not. And yet for me, although "The Village " portrays many of the harsh realities of the poor at that time, it is ultimately a hopeful series.

Finally, I want to say something about the scenery. While it was usually breathtakingly beautiful, that beauty served to underscore, even put a punctuation point, on the tragedies and occasional joys that took place there. Thus, the scenery became another character, sometimes a mocking one: "Yes, I'm beautiful, but I'm not gonna make your life any easier."

The series was riveting, expertly portrayed, and most of all, true. A giant thank you to all who gave us this gift.

My husband and have just binge watched the 2 series on Amazon prime over the last week, we've just finished and I am mortified there is no series 3. Well worth a watch, a nice change to see an English period drama with a great story line for both the women and the men in this drama.