Sunshine_pink The all star cast made me want to tune in and bar a few reservations in the first episode, I decided to continue watching. I really loved Fat Friends and had been excited about Mellor's new project. And I am a big Hermione Norris fan so was looking fwd to seeing this.Needless to say it was a huge disappointment and I am really hoping there isn't another season.The fundamental problem with this show was the foundation upon which it was based; the maternity unit at the hospital. The staff, especially the midwife Vicky, grew unhealthy attachments to the women at the parent craft group. It seems they did not have a life outside the parent craft group giving the impression that hospital staff have no professional boundaries, code of conduct or professional distance (the midwife who was also pregnant, took on the law hindering arrest, hide medical information to cover up infidelity and even showed up at one of the ladies homes and disclosed personal issues)......never have I come across a midwife who was so invested in a group of women that she would sacrifice her license...maybe the NHS is in trouble.The women have just met, through their pregnancies but it seems they all have no other social outlet and have grown dependant on one another ("how can he say that about jasmine, she will never do that" Diane exclaims.......having known her a few months at best). Jasmine is an embarrassment to Asian culture and frankly to all women.....it shocks me how little value the men in her life have to put up with her lies and her badgering.The other couples in the show had their share of problems but it seems only Roanna (H.Norris character) showed some level of maturity by leaving an unhappy marriage and setting up shop with her young lover. Kim and Susie and Neil are in a love triangle.....with all the confusion at home, no wonder the poor lad is isolated and horny and taken by a girl with intentions of her own.This show was a waste of time and has not touched on reality. There is a couple who speak high tunes about how they will fight/wont let this happen/wont let that happen.....blah blah but haven't got a brain cell between them to actually DO anything.....its a sad sorry state of affairs but hey, watched 3 out of 4 episodes and from what I hear I did not miss much. more of the same thing which case......save yourself the time and do something productive because this really is a waste of time

hillrosemary I must be very easy to please, I suppose. I've thoroughly enjoyed this, and as we approach the final episode, I'll be sorry to see it end. Yes, I agree, a Kay Mellor drama is usually fairly recognisable, since her style doesn't change that much, but then why should it? She has an enviable ability to write good stories and, most important, her writing appears to attract some very good actors. I like the way in which even the nicest (on the surface) of her characters have flaws; it makes them much more realistic. I'm sure I haven't been the only viewer wanting to smack Jasmine at various stages in this! The only character to whom I haven't managed to warm at all is Susie, because she's been so unlikeable from the start. I don't quite hold with the criticism that Kay Mellor can't or won't, write 'good' male characters either. Yes, Dev, Simon et al can be weak and daft; they can also be strong and sympathetic - just like men in real life are.Last but not least, I think Ms Mellor's done a wonderful job of preventing 'In The Club' becoming overly sentimental, which it could easily have done, by leavening the pathos with humour. Much of the latter has been provided by the character of Roanna. Having admired Hermione Norris's comic timing and skills in 'Cold Feet' I think she's done an equally fine job here. The scene where Simon panicked like a headless chicken because he thought Roanna was in labour when she had foot cramp had me laughing out loud. Likewise her tearing a strip off his artist housemate. Brilliant.In short, it's the kind of programme TV critics will inevitably be patronising about, but the kind that I look forward to every week. Good acting, good writing and a good laugh. What else do you need?

ianlouisiana 20 years of strong,brave,loyal and smart women in our soaps and TV dramas combined with frankly cardboard male characters who are either weak,vain,thick,violent or criminal(and sometimes all five things in one)has rather taken the edge off what at one time might have been considered a "challenging" concept,i.e. the intertwining stories of five women(and the obligatory teenage girl who doesn't know she's pregnant)and their relationships with each other and their partners of whatever persuasion. I can hear the pitch now.."These women transcend the racial,sexual and social barriers and quickly bond against their stupid insensitive,feckless men whose brains nestle somewhere in their pants" You can see the TV executives salivating,can't you? Yes,I know only women bleed,and I know only women give birth but there is quite often a male involved somewhere along the line,however briefly. "Very briefly",I hear echoing from a thousand female stand - ups. Miss K.Mellor has taken us there before and clearly has no intention of letting us forget her opinion of the whole matter. For me,the tragedy of "In the club" is that it completely wastes four of our best actors - Miss J Halfpenny,Miss K.Parkinson,Miss T.Fitzgerald and Miss H.Norris all of whom perform far better than the material deserves,but making their characters believable is beyond even their considerable talents. I must mention Mr W.Mellor,not,i must admit,a favourite of mine,but who does a great job of making Rick,Miss Halfpenny's husband, a sympathetic character right up until the time he robs a bank because he can't afford to pay for his daughters' pizzas(well,I never said he was clever). Because of the fore-mentioned cast,"In the club" is just about watchable,but,sadly,it is nowhere near believable.

ThatChloeJones 'In The Club' is the highly anticipated new drama series from Kay Mellor, whose reign as queen of Yorkshire drama has been jostled for in recent times by Sally Wainwright. However, with many hits including 'Band Of Gold' and 'Fat Friends' amongst others, Mellor enjoys an enviable reputation as a respected writer of strong, Yorkshire women. But 'In The Club' is rather a shaky return to TV in my opinion, despite a largely positive critical response elsewhere.For a start, there are too many characters and too many stories. Some are engaging, others not at all, and some just seem peripheral and irrelevant. The pacing is frenetic and the dialogue often unrealistic, wooden and excessive. The actors barely have time to act because there is just so much dialogue, most of it unnecessary and pointless.The acting is also rather patchy. Will Mellor, perhaps surprisingly, is genuinely sensational as Rick Manning, giving arguably the performance of his career. Jill Halfpenny, who plays his wife Diane, also puts in a believable turn, as does young actress Hannah Midgley, last seen in Emmerdale some seven years ago. Given that this is her first TV role since then - and her first as an adult - her understated realism was subcutaneously engaging.The rest of the cast are somewhat less impressive - Taj Atwal, Christine Bottomley and Katherine Parkinson all giving rather shaky performances. Parkinson in particular has a strange voice and is clearly faking her dodgy Yorkshire accent. And Hermione Norris is badly miscast and seems totally out of place.The saving graces were Rosie the pregnant teen and the story of the deeply troubled Rick and his family. But good as those stories were, they did not compensate for the show's many weaknesses elsewhere. Let's hope Episode 2 is better.