Bodkin. A stylishly (pretty) original comedy drama that laughs both with and at people

https://youtu.be/KoVnzw4nP10

These remarks will be, if not quite episode by episode, sequential, as I responded while watching the series. The early episodes set matters up well, cleverly managing to expand and develop both the plot and the character relationships – many changing as the series unfolded. The 5th episode had some stylish and initially baffling flashback techniques used showing events from a multitude of different points of view – very often in abbreviated and rapid form which kept one on ones toes. Another nice visual touch was the use of different silhouettes, again, quite rapidly just before each episode began and after the dramatic situation at the start of that episode had been established. Sometimes these were very quickly established sometimes they were more leisurely style but they usually gave some indication (if you were quick enough to pick it up) of the focus and development that would occur in that episode.

Episode 6 (the penultimate) was, I felt, something of a misfire. It seemed to be getting a bit too clever for its own good; the characters were becoming irritating in the tropes that characterized them and I did wonder if the creators were trying too self-consciously to delay the ending, which was clearly approaching. The opening of the 7th and final episode also slightly misfired as the way the major themes and ideas of the whole series (pretty clear at this stage) were rather heavy y-handedly explored with too much dramatic underlining.

At the end the major theme and idea of the series was, I thought, Identity and who one was and how one defined that by ones actions. By the end of the series this idea been thoughtfully and quite thoroughly explored. A enjoyably fascinating series with a good balance of comic satire and dramatic tension

Big Boys; Series 1: Alternately funny and touching dramedy.

The Dead Boy Detectives: Enormously entertaining and smartly funny.