Hands up if you watched BBC's The Body Farm. Anyone? Hands up if you thought it was good. Anyone? No? Thought not.
I don't usually criticise anything, especially in public, because I was brought up to believe that if you can't think of anything good to say, you should keep quiet. I also know how much it hurts when one of my books gets a bad review. However...
I'll admit that, if it's not The Killing (superb Danish crime series), I'm not too excited at the moment, but I'd been looking forward to The Body Farm for weeks.
I think I can safely say it was worst pile of dross I have ever seen. It's a Crime! (Or a mystery...) summed it up well. This picture also sums it up.
Forensic expert Eve Lockhart (Tara Fitzgerald) is called to a crime scene. That slimy stuff on the walls you can see is gore. It's all that's left of a couple of bodies following an explosion. The gore covers walls, floor, ceiling and even manages to get outside the room. Truly, it covers everything. Well, everything apart from that window for some unexplained reason.
The gore was presumably intended to shock viewers, to drag them into the story and keep them on their edge of their seats. Um, no. There's a lot more to creating a gripping drama than spreading a bit - or a lot - of gore around.
The sophisticated bomb that caused such carnage? That had been made by someone who'd chatted to an ex-bomb disposal expert. Easy, right? (I've been chatting to a retired doctor. Anyone in need of a bit of brain surgery?)
There was more. Sadly, there was so much more.
Viewing figures were high, I gather, and I suppose that's all anyone at the BBC cares about. They'll be down by at least one next week...
What a disappointment. Have you looked forward to something and been disappointed? Have you watched any good TV lately? Am I missing out? All recommendations gratefully received.
Have a great weekend!