Arweljos
The first series wasn't the best but was passable, I thought I'd give the second series a chance seeing as it had an all new cast, a new story and was set in Anglesey(not far from where I live). Wish I hadn't bothered, I watched the first two episodes to give it a chance and couldn't really get into it, I was going to stop there but as it only had four episodes I continued on, mainly to confirm that I was correct in my thought from the very first episode that Jason Watkins character was indeed the culprit. It was a chore to watch however and I found it hard to connect with any of the characters and to be honest I couldn't have cared less what happened to any them, it was lazy uninspired and unimaginative stoytelling with a done to death plot and one of those annoying unanswered you have to make your own mind up endings. And on that point can someone please tell TV show writers to stop these open ended endings, with unanswered questions, I can understand it on long running TV shows where the story continues and the show has been commissioned for another series, but on a four part drama like this, even if I didn't care who lived or died, I've put the time in and I want the story told to me in its entirety, its your story not mine so finish it!
Prismark10
This is an example of a thin ITV drama stretched out and reliant on its star power. Christopher Eccleston was protecting the wife of a gangster who was shot dead as she was due to give evidence against her husband.The now retired Eccleston still haunted by his past mistake is running a guest house in the Lake District with his wife. He is asked by his old boss Paterson Joseph to turn it into a safe house for a family whose son is being stalked by a psychopath released from jail.Both multiple plot lines head for a dramatic and explosive showdown but feels more like a damp squib especially as you always feel the Joseph is somehow implicated in the first plot line. Plenty of flashbacks and overwrought characters but it could had been told more effectively in two hours.
Jackson Booth-Millard
I saw the adverts for this four part drama, the former Doctor Who star and one of the co-stars I recognised was a good reason to watch, and it looked it could be a good thing as well. Basically former police detective Robert (Christopher Eccleston) had a witness in his care, but she was shot dead one night, he also took a bullet and has been struggling with guilt ever since. Following this Robert and his wife Katy (Marsha Thomason) gave up their lives in the big city, to purchase and run a guest house in the Lake District, it was his old boss DCI Mark Maxwell (Peep Show's Paterson Joseph) that suggested that the building could be used as a safe house. Mark sends Robert the Blackwell family, who are being stalked by a man called Michael (Peter Ferdinando), who tried to kidnap their youngest son Joe (Max True), the father David (Jason Merrells) is a former prison officer who has suspended from work for reasons unknown, and estranged from his eldest son Sam (James Burrows) who has abandoned university and is living rough in his car. As time passes the criminal slowly follows the trail to try and find the Blackwells, the family find it difficult to keep up the pretence of being holidaymakers, using new identities, not communicating with the outside world, and generally worrying for their safety, especially wife/mother Ali (Nicola Stephenson) and teenage daughter Louisa (Harriet Cains), and Robert still haunted by his past is, at the same time as protecting the family, trying to find out more about how and why his witness was shot dead. Also starring Christine Tremarco as Becky, Kelly Harrison as Susan Reynolds, Nicholas Moss as Ben and Sarah Smart as Megan. Eccleston does well as the man protecting the family and doing a little investigation as well, Joseph is interesting as his suspicious but reliable boss, and Ferdinando when he comes on is a good threatening villain, the best scenes are when you thin the family will caught, some of the flashbacks to the night of the shooting, and of course the finale, involving a car chase and crash, followed by an execution, I'm not sure it was the most gripping thing, but in general it was a worthwhile crime drama. Good!
jarcheese2012
This is what I would regard as a typical ITV series - it starts intriguingly enough but ultimately disappoints. I have no beef with the actors who all played their parts as well as the ridiculous script allowed them to. I'm not going to give any spoilers in this review because there are no spoilers to give away because it's all so predictable. The actions of the characters are nonsensical, to say the least and the whole thing could have been over and done with in two episodes. In fact it looked like the writer had two incomplete stories and in his haste to get something on TV had fused them together in an attempt to make something passable. And don't get me started on the ending. Avoid this at all costs. It is without doubt the most boring, pointless and least suspenseful suspense thriller of the year, where most of the (in)action takes place in the most depressing B&B in Britain. It has no TV or internet, which would be a good thing for any guests staying there because they wouldn't have to watch rubbish like Safe House. If I could have given it no stars I would have.