Leofwine_draca It's gangster business as usual in this four-part miniseries adaptation of a Martina Cole bestseller. The story, as it goes, is extremely derivative and straightforward: a somewhat psychotic young criminal is released from prison and immediately begins to go off the rails, killing off everyone he sees as an enemy and seriously messing up his family relations along the way. I'm not necessarily a big fan of this particular genre, and watching this miniseries, I remembered why: it's predictable. The gangster stuff might have been relocated to London's East End, but in all other respects it's completely familiar, using SCARFACE and a dozen other similar films as reference points to tell a small scale story. I guess there's only so much you can say when it comes down to it, and this doesn't say anything new at all.Still, one thing distinguishes this from similar fare: it's got good acting in it, generally across the board. Yes, the majority of the characters are scummy, villainous, repulsive, or a combination of the three, but they're never less than realistic. Most of the cast are unfamiliar newcomers to me, other than stalwart Brian Cox playing a criminal kingpin stuck behind bars (the kind of role he can do in his sleep, to be honest). Best of the bunch is up 'n' comer, Tom Hardy, who went off to Hollywood after this, and it's easy to see why: his depiction of a multi-layered psychopath is absolutely fantastic, a gripping portrayal of madness and evil, and yet with inklings of humanity here and there that stop him from becoming totally one-sided. Hardy's the key that kept me watching this one.Elsewhere, there's nasty violence, some fraught histrionics involving children, an extremely unpleasant rape scene, and a fitting climax. Sometimes the series feels stretched out, but for the most part it remains watchable, with good, realistic dialogue. I wasn't too happy with the ending, but I still enjoyed the journey there.

dgm2112 Tom Hardy's performance is disturbingly brilliant. It makes his performance in Warrior look almost restrained when you can see how far he can take it. I will rent what ever he is in to see what he does next. Seems like a modern day Sean Penn with more of an edge and grit, or an Ed Norton. I hope he gets the roles he deserves and is around for a long time. By the way the the other acting is awesome also as is the writing and direction. I believe I saw this on Starz and now must find the blu-ray. Does anyone know why this series did not continue? This could have been the new Soprano's. Tom Hardy even took cigarette smoking to such as extreme level not seen since Jeromy Irons in Dead Ringers.

Jay_88 Martina Cole's "The Take", is by far one of the best British drama's I have ever seen. It has such a powerful and gripping storyline, which I find is a rarity. I have never seen acting as fantastic as Tom Hardy plays his character Freddie. They could not have chosen a finer actor and he deserves so much credit for this series alone. I actually did not see this on television, but I bought it on DVD, and as you can tell I do not regret my decision. I would highly recommend this to anyone and everyone. If you love British drama, then you will love this. It has everything from sheer grit to absolutely heart breaking consequences. You cannot watch this without feeling so many different emotions, whether it is tears of laughter or tears of sadness. It will by far be the best 3 hours you will ever watch and it will definitely be something you will want to watch again and again. Martina Cole's "The Take" is nothing short of sheer brilliance.J

stumps029 Strap yourself for the ultimate thrill ride of betrayal,sex and drugs i've just watched the first two episodes last night and i have too say this is stunning portrayal of a 80's gangster..... our story begins when Freddie gets out from a stint in prison where he was working for Ozzy played brilliant by Brian Cox and the story follows Freddie who is a totally uncontrollable gangster through the decades of the eighties (brillant played by Tom Hardy)in amongst this is his cousin Jimmy who has more brains that him when it comes business and so far the story is tell the battle of wits between the family member if the first two episodes are anything to go by the this is truly worth the watch....