User reviews

This is one part brilliant drama and one part melodrama but being only four episodes, let it take you on its journey.

The writing is very good; not perfect, but very good. But it wouldn't be enough without good acting and I must say, David Tennant excels at portraying grief. Never have I held my husband's hand so tightly! Having experienced loss through sudden accident, the character of Dave certainly echoed my experience - an experience that led to PTSD rather than love but my life wasn't TV. Perhaps it is because we cry 'in the same way' but Tennant's portrayal of stiff upper lip and hidden, catastrophic grief did it for me. My husband was wary of watching the second episode because he was feeling fairly traumatised by the first!

The child actors are great, the character of Robin is portrayed by Mr. Heap in a suitably dithery manner that makes one love him, and the visceral hurt felt by the satellite of supporting characters rings true.

The ending was fairly convenient and a diminution of what had gone before but, well, it was hard to imagine any other outcome after some subtle twists and turns.

All in all - time well spent.

A single father discovers his deceased spouse was keeping secrets. I quickly got hooked by this - David Tenant is sublime, very quickly making you forget he was ever Doctor Who (though I could have done without the Black Hole pun), and embodying the grief and irrationality that comes with bereavement.

The drama is strongest when it focuses on those themes, but dilutes slightly when it veers towards foregrounding plot mechanics. The introduction of Stuart and the revelation of his meetings over the years with Rita certainly adds intrigue, and new challenges for Dave, but the reasons why Rita kept Stuart involved are never answered or explored, reducing this moment to mere contrivance. Other threads are left dangling - why does Lucy talk only about her English teacher? What is at the root of Ewan harming himself (and will anyone notice his actions)? The ending also pushes the boundaries of plausibility. At the climax, when I felt my main concern was supposed to be the happiness of Dave and Sarah, I was instead wondering how all these children would react to the news that there is to be a new sibling a mere three months after the death of their mother. The drama was made for Sunday night primetime so perhaps that audience would be more tolerant of this than someone like me, watching it all in one sitting on DVD. Still, after all that had gone before, the ending felt like a letdown.

On a side note, as a Glaswegian it is refreshing to see some of the more attractive neighbourhoods get an outing.

My own preference would have been to see more shades of darkness explored here. Can all that Dave claims to have had with Rita be true, if he so quickly and irreversibly commits to Sarah? On the whole this is a rewarding drama with high-calibre acting that keeps you hooked and entertained throughout.

I heard so many tales about widowers getting over the "devastation" of losing their wives amazingly fast. tale as old as time, first time I've seen it in action thought. i bet David Tennant made every female cry watching him mourn Rita then second episode i was annoyed by how fast Dave got over Rita but as i said its probably one of the most truthful aspects of the story.

I really liked this. The story was well-paced and the main character was flawed enough to be relateable. The kid-actors were fantastic and the silent grief of Dave was completely believable. There are probably better stories out in the world, but this one was relateable and interesting, with quite an interesting storyline for the teenage daughter so it wasn't purely focused on the grief.

I won't give 10 stars because there are some things that weren't to my personal liking, but throughout a solid 8

Amazing, emotional show. Big props to the full cast especially the boy who plays Ewan. Top notch.

okay, fist: I love David Tennant, reason I saw this. Second: I only saw one episode. So perhaps it gets better. But the melodrama in the first episode was just too much for me. The acting is way lower than normal BBC television. The story could have been so good. But I couldn't detach to the characters because the total over the top acting. That mustn't be the fault of the actors. It is in the script and the directing and everything together is just not very good. The only performance I liked was the one of the oldest daughter, Natasha Watson as Lucy. Probably a movie for David Tennant fans, and teens and grans on holiday. But this is definitely not David Tennant at his best.

The script had the actors jumping all over the place and the editing was choppy and chaotic. This made watching a chore. The confusion was just too much and led to a lack of engagement with the story. Gave up after the first episode.