Ms_Q I was willing to suspend disbelief and accept the premise of the show, and I admire the actors for treating the script seriously, but I can't accept its plot holes and misconceptions. The primary weakness is an inability to understand other points of view. Jews do not believe in the Christian version of Hell, for one thing, and while a Jew might (and many did) lose faith in God because of the Holocaust, he would have no reason to turn to Satan because of the behavior of the Pope. Jews do not recognize the Pope as God's representative. He might become anti-Catholic, but, despite the scriptwriters' misconception, that is not the same as becoming a Satanist. A psychologist would have had no trouble accepting that performing a satanic ritual could have resulted in physical illness for a priest; she would simply have explained it as a psychosomatic illness. Every non-believer is not also rude, aggressive, and confrontational. Minor inaccuracies - a priest would have known that it's "The Revelation of St. John the Divine," not "Revelations." A European Jew would have spoken Yiddish, not Hebrew.

lolatheluvhippo The reviews and comments on this board are strange. I'm an atheist and I loved the series. I'm also a gay-rights activist, and I didn't see anything blatantly harmful. In fact, the story line was written to suggest that the reason the young priest lost faith was because the church had forsaken him because of his homosexuality, not because he was gay. Claiming this was akin to describing homosexuality as satanic is glib at best; the series is about the Catholic church, and it's a matter of fact that the Catholic church frowns on homosexuality. I think they did a good job of showing how that attitude hurts homosexuals, by making them doubt themselves and their instincts, and ultimately by shutting them out of the faith. Also, ONE atheist was portrayed in a negative light. (And he WAS an atheist, not a satanist, though I can see how he could be mistaken for a satanist, as he was possessed by a demon) How can one make a series about a religious war without defining 'good' and 'evil' and dealing with the resistance of non-believers. This series didn't define atheists and homosexuals as 'evil' anymore than it defined Christians as holy warriors who see possessed people around every corner.Anyhow, of course it was unbelievable; it was about exorcism. But the story was compelling, the characters were fantastic, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I would give it a 10, but there are only six episodes, and now i'm lonely.

florinmax I have seen the first episode of this show and there is a huge mistake: the guy who is supposed to be possessed is referred to as an atheist by father Jacob. An atheist is someone who doesn't believe. The guy was very much interested and definitely believed in God; he just chose the other side. That kind of belief is satanism, not atheism. I am agnostic (which means, to those who do not know, I believe that I just don't know whether God exists or not) and anti-religion. This show is full of superstitions, religious inaccuracies and lies. If they were more intelligent about it I would have enjoyed it even though I could never believe it. But they made atheism (by mistake maybe) and homosexuality to be the devil. People can believe anything they want as far as I'm concerned as long as they don't try to impose their beliefs onto others. And this show does impose their prejudice onto the viewer.

fudgefase I missed this one because I was out on the Thursday night, but I caught it on BBC's iplayer - and I'm glad I did. Another fantastic performance from Martin Shaw and another thoroughly believable character to add to his repertoire. Father Jacob is played with all the intensity and humanity we would all wish our religious leaders to have. Lots of excellent acting and an interesting - and slightly scary - storyline, keeps the attention. At one point, I actually had to stop the playback and go to make a cup of tea - an old trick to break the tension that I haven't used for several years when watching a TV programme... A good sign. Great start to what I hope will be a first rate series.My only concern is that it might be a bit of a one trick pony and I wonder how we're going to get past that. But for the time being, thumbs up and all systems go! A success.