User reviews

If Sally Wainright (Happy Valley) and M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) got drunk while watching an episode of The League of Gentlemen they would end up writing something like this.

After watching the first episode I am confused and intrigued. People drive around in 25 year old cars but have smart phones. Someone plays a computer game from the 80s but they are an anti-fracking protester. Is this place even 'real'? I'm thinking 'Lost', 'Life on Mars' even 'The Truman Show'.

The first episode was quite disjointed and demanded patience from it's audience, that's a big ask these days. They did enough to get me watching episode 2 but only just.

Plenty of things dragged this potentially enjoyable, but ultimately topical and unsophisticated, production down, such as:

• Underdeveloped characters/relationships
• Slow pacing
• Repetitious events; too many coughing scenes; many characters involved in 'terror in the woods', but no reveals by two thirds of the way through the series; alarms and goo in multiple lab scenes, but no conclusive data/outcome at all; animal mutilation images on a loop; and the same with overly dramatic conversations...
• Annoying relationship dramas that don't drive a story
• Some of the comedic scripting works, but not much
• An unsympathetic and generally negative tone (damaged and/or unlikable characters, and that's supposed to be funny)

The village of Chadder Vale is beset by a series of bizarre tragedies, DI Riya Ajunwa is keen to investigate, but her boss wants a lid kept on things.

The amount of people I've spoken to that said they gave up after ten or twenty minutes, and I totally get why, this is the most frustrating series I've seen in a long while.

It's all over the place and very patchy, I'd argue half is just plain bad, and half is actually very good, the last two episodes were so much better, but getting to that point is hard work.

The story was very good, the acting on point, but the storytelling side of it was all over the place, at times it was virtually impossible to follow. When it finally falls into place, it's actually very satisfying, and it does come together well.

I've heard people rightly mention Twin Peaks and Fargo, personally I got more Fortitude vibes from it.

Very well acted, Wunmi Mosaku as always is great, at times she's better than the material allows.

6/10.

I feel this show could have had potential but all just went very boringly downhill after episode one. The idea of the missing girl , the creature in the woods , the dead animals (which we still don't know why) could have made an interesting plot but it never ended up being about that. To be quite frank i don't even really know what the show was about or what the point of half the characters were. The lad watching the cameras at the end i cant even remember him in the other episodes. Was it drugs , was it not who knows. It ended feeling like there would still be another episode yet there wasnt. Dont know if anyone else agrees.

I can see what the writers where attempting to do but it fails to work because the UK is nothing like America, where a town can be isolated, hours away from a major town or city. The way they speak about Manchester as if it's a far off, all shapes and lights metropolis they can only dream of doesn't work because they could get a bus to Manchester in an hour from this fictional Lancs village (filmed in Todmorden so I'm estimating the distance from that).

Transplanting this Twin Peaks/Stranger Things atmosphere to Lancashire just doesn't work and it makes it silly. The 70s/80s aesthetic with the cars, decor and fashion combined with modern mobile phones is jarring, plus the scene of an old school point and click adventure played on a modern computer just feels like a jumbled mess.

The characters and community aren't believable, the plot moves at a snails pace without enough hook to keep the audience engaged and it feels as if the writers have never been North of the Watford Gap.

I watched it all purely to see what would become of it. I found nothing at the end and I can't see it being picked up for another series.

A compelling and pretty original show that's kind of a Happy Valley with a weirdness angle. The dialogue is great, the pacing moves things well, nothing is spoon fed to the audience and the performances are all first rate. Every episode is tantalizing and interesting. The ending leaves things rather open, with several unanswered questions hanging about, suggesting a possible follow up, though I think it works just fine as is. A very pleasant surprise. Having said that, some folks won't like it - people who need to have everything wrapped up and explained, or who use TV shows as second screen content while they browse on their phones. This requires attention and, not patience exactly, but a willingness to let go and let the story take you where it takes you.

I don't understand all the hate for this as it really isn't a terrible drama.

My only criticism is that we need another series to find out what's been what, and all the moaners might scupper that!

I enjoyed the premise and I liked the characters. And there being a few stories running concurrently is fine with me.

I binged over the bank holiday weekend but would have happily watched this go out on a Sunday evening each week.

I agree it's not exactly a comedy but I don't think that should be held against it.

They have to make another series though because there are way too many threads to tidy up.

Also, I guessed who was involved right at the start but now we need to find out more about them!

Fancied this one but afraid it turned out to be a dud. The jokey opening suggested humour that didn't materialise. In fact for older viewers, it felt a bit like The League of Gentleman with all the funny bits extracted.

I couldn't really work out what the genre was or what the story is about. There seems to be a beast on the loose in the woods next door to the fictional Lancashire town of 'Chadder Vale'.

None of it really added up for me. The pointlessly sweary script didn't setup what we were getting into. Production values were poor, dialogue was hard to hear, lots of the interior scenes weren't lit properly (don't they have electricity in Lancashire?) and direction was poor generally with lots of weird shots and angles.

The cops just weren't convincing at all and looked they were based in a squat. There weren't any likable characters and it seemed aimless - a drama that didn't really have any real drama in it.

Might have worked better as a 30 minute black comedy. I'm afraid after episode one 'Chadder Vale' is already in my rear view mirror.

I can't understand why everyone is so negative about this series. I thought it was excellent and it made perfect sense to me. The plot was brilliant, the characters were great, and the individual story lines all came together in the end. There were also plenty of twists and turns that kept me guessing. Some parts of the story were open to viewer interpretation which is very clever because it leaves you with unanswered questions. The final scene leaves it wide open for another series. As psychological thrillers go, this is excellent. Perhaps those that didn't understand it, or thought it was lacking somehow don't understand how phycological thrillers work. It's a 10/10 for me.

Well there's 6 hrs of my life I won't get back

Only watched this for want of something else to watch - learned my lesson there. Probably the most unsophisticated thing I have watched for a decade. I'm still scratching my head at why I kept starting a the next episode. Each episode was like Groundhog Day. Unconvincing characters - felt sorry for the actors who were expected to do something with a scrip and storyline like Hollyoaks on a really really bad day.

Perfect example of why trying to lever Stranger Things into North Manchester should. Ever be attempted again.

Need a lie down now.

Fumin' at the end.

Unfortunately like a lot of others have already said, this was just overall underwhelming and disappointing. After what seemed like a good opener with a bit of mystery surrounding a disappearance it just got worse, and worse, and worse.

Along with numerous unanswered questions, the baffling plot was so farfetched it was beyond ridiculous. I wanted to like it but it was virtually impossible as the series got further along. Without revealing spoilers, there was so many unnecessary (and extremely odd) side storylines that made you think that somehow all of this madness would come together later on - it didn't. That said, I gave the series a 2/10 because I don't agree with some of the other reviews that criticised the acting. There was absolutely some good aspects of acting involved by some 'lesser known' actors. It was just unfortunate for them that the storyline was so incomprehensible and flawed.

Honestly, if you don't want to get a bit baffled by the combination of some mysterious woods that cause hallucinations for no reason, a 90's text command style video game, some random attack from 5 years ago, an obsession over Manchester and some dodgy bread factory where everyone seems to work (amongst plenty of other odd things) - then I suggest you do not waste your time.

Totally lost as to why this is described as a dark comedy thriller. Just left me feeling what have I just watched?

It looks as though they attempted to humour up Fargo and failed miserably. It was a total mish mash that looked as thought it had been shot by an amateur videographer trying to be edgy. The story line was about as clear as mud.

I was hoping for something decent on mainstream TV but alas it was not to be. I won't be watching anymore of this. There may be someone who finds this humourous but not anyone in my household.

I was hoping for something good but here we are. Shame maybe next time.

Please.....leaving on such a cliffhanger.....really. Gives me the impression that ideas were fully out of.....did you run out of money😂😂 or had the creative ability from the writers taken an early vacation. There is such a long journey to take this storyline, sadly I feel let down by the whole concept now.

I was hoping for so much more, come the conclusion of episode 6 I was left thinking what a waste of my time. So many gaps, very fragmented storyline, such a poor way to leave it hanging.

Not sure that given the abrupt ending & numerous holes in the story line that I would bother with a second series, this is a missed opportunity & story truly untold.

Have just finished binge watching this show I can't put into this review what I said at the end of the last episode as it was full of expletives. The makers of this show need to have a serious word with themselves. The show was going well with hints at some kind of government or other organisational conspiracy and/or some kind of monster in the woods and I was enjoying the writing, acting etc. In the end though not a single answer was given to resolve any of the plot threads sewn through the show. If you like a show where you have no idea what's going on with no hope of ever finding out then feel free, be warned though you will absolutely be wasting 6 hours of your life. Shame on you ITV!!!

It was compelling. I just had to bingewatch series 1 (in the event of any more to come). It was heavily advertised but don't believe the hype.

A great list of Northern actors were assembled up on the moors.

It's just difficult to pinpoint where it went so wrong.

Great viewing for the Easter break? Itv would have been better off showing the 8 episodes of Midsomer Murders that the UK has yet to see but have already been screened in other regions of the world.

The worst thing is that I gave 5 hours of my life to the show and it didn't even conclude.

I read somewhere that the writer spent 2 or 3 years putting this together so, should it be recommissioned, we could have a long wait to see what happens next.

Don't waste your time itv and, more importantly, don't waste ours.