We liked the performances more and more, but still couldn't care less what happened to the characters. This, we think, was down to good actors struggling in vain with a clunky, leaden script. We're reluctant to criticize Abi Morgan, when there are (still) so few front-rank women writers in television, but if she has a passion for the 1950s, it wasn't on show. Storylines were wrapped up neatly enough, but with careful 21st Century sensibilities and without any real sense of climax. The horse race satire was too long and frankly dull and the flat revelations about Ruth Elmes were uninvolving to viewers who had glimpsed her only briefly in episode one.
A second series is apparently planned, set in 1957. Lets hope that if it continues to be dogged by 'Mad Men' comparisons, it is able to live up to them this time and show a strong, unsentimental love of what it's portraying, rather than a trite trip through dramatic cliches.
***
Oh and we read that Rafe Spall is proud of his performance in 'The Shadow Line'. He also says he admires Jack Nicholson and Daniel Day-Lewis, which explains a lot. You can act, Mr Spall, but please keep it a wee bit smaller?
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