TV shows you most recently finished watching

I originally watched the first episode back when it first came out as it was available as a promotion on mainstream TV. I wasn't impressed. In those days I had a smaller 50in TV. I eventually got a bigger 65in TV and decided to go back and binge the whole first season in 2 sittings. With a more cinematic experience this is so much more enjoyable. I guess Showtime have thrown some serious money at this. Never been a video game player so the main criticism coming out that it's not staying true to the core of the Halo universe matters little to me. I enjoyed the characters, story and visually its very impressive. Natasha McElhone's character is a very convincing 'baddie' having no conscience about doing anything in the name of science. He daughter accuses her of trying to save humanity at the cost of losing her own. Pablo Schreiber is also amazingly good as 'Masterchief' (the army commander type not a cooking show contestant lol), both looking the part and showing some acting chops. In terms of it being video gamey then only the last episode seems like that and maybe more of a homage to the source material. Overall this is stand up sci-fi. Looking forward to getting stuck into Season 2 shortly.

9/10

Another police procedural drama. Is Peter Capaldi's character a bent copper who fitted a black man up for a crime he didn't commit years ago? All well played and atmospheric until the final episode where it comes off the rails for me. It's almost as if they were short of a decent ending and then just had to contrive one somehow. Would have been 8/10 but the last episode takes it down to 7/10.

Also watched the first 3 available episodes of Constellations, an intriguing new sci-fi series from Apple TV+ starring Noomi Rapace. Very strong psychological sci-fi influenced by the more cerebral films of the genre such as 2001 a Space Odyssey, Event Horizon and even that very underrated Gerry Anderson 1969 film Doppleganger. Liking it a lot.

Irvine Welsh's Crime Seasons 1&2

Set in Edinburgh and stars Dougray Scott as a detective who is hunting a notorious serial killer while dealing with all sorts of personal issues. It seems this was envisaged just to be 12 episodes which is a shame if the case. Dark, brutal and brilliant. 9.5/10

After The Flood Season 1

If you are prepared to ignore just how silly some of the scenes are (one with a baby especially) then this is very entertaining stuff. Stars Philip Glenister (Life On Mars) and Sophie Rundle (Peaky Blinders) 8/10

Trigger Point Season 2

Bomb disposal drama from the producers of Line Of Duty. I liked this better than Season 1 although it's still stretching credability to breaking point at times and the last of the 6 episodes seemed very far fetched. That said still very enjoyable. Stars Vicki McClure (Line Of Duty) 7/10

I was getting zombie withdrawal symptoms so started on The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon last night. It has a really different feel to other TWD series and a European setting adds to that; though it's not been shared yet how on earth he ended up washed ashore in France. 

British series on Netflix. Murders, cops, bribery, cover-ups, etc.

Really good. Good story, great actors, very well done and all that.

^ I'm looking forward to the new True Detective and se02 of Halo, but as always I'll wait until complete before watching.