Single Father (2010) User Reviews

Devastating

[rstalbans-2 · 9/10 · 17 January 2011]

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.

death and sex

[LunarPoise · 7/10 · 20 May 2011]

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 cried at first episode

[Shymaa0000 · 9/10 · 14 July 2019]

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.

Beautiful and truthful

[Purity_of_Essence87 · 10/10 · 4 August 2011]

I have to say I wasn't quite prepared for this miniseries when I first set down to watch it. I was led to it through my admiration of David Tennant, who does a truly remarkable job as the title character - Dave, a father of five children who suddenly and tragically loses his love, Rita. I feel uniquely qualified to judge the realism and emotional weight of the story having just lost my boyfriend equally as suddenly about 10 weeks ago. Coincidentally, the main story picks up for Dave at the same place in his life - 10 weeks after the loss.

So please keep that in mind when I say that these performances struck something very real and very present inside of me. The breakdowns Dave has are so incredibly and perfectly portrayed - the full rainbow of emotions artfully shining through David Tennant. The writing is exactly right. The leap from pain to sex isn't that far off and it's wonderful to see how such basic wants and desires can blossom into full-fledged love as Dave and Sarah cope with their loss.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the portrayal of Dave as father and his relationship with his children. Though you watch him almost neglecting them as he struggles, it is clear that he loves them above all else and so the character never becomes unlovable. The children's' performances are all spot-on (and you know how difficult it is to find good child actors).

To sum up, I feel as though my personal loss and pain was expressed through this film, and that is a fair feat. Thus, perhaps I was moved more than the average viewer may be, but I think there's enough solid drama, acting, and writing present to make this a worthwhile watch for anybody. Also, because it's always fun to just tack something on at the end, I really rather enjoyed the filmmaker's style and thought it was well directed.

I quite liked it

[confred-52577 · 8/10 · 29 July 2019]

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

An excellent telemovie, right up to the final scene

[cassandra2006 · 9/10 · 14 September 2013]

We are shown a comfortable middle class family, a few irritations evident in the relationships and some troubling indication in connection with the wife's attitude to honesty about contraception. The family's essential peace ends when she is suddenly and shockingly killed in a road accident. What ensues is, IMO, a realistic and largely credible portrayal of a father who is obliged to take on a role which he had not been expecting. David Tennant rises as always magnificently to this challenge, giving us as sense of the grief, anger, bewilderment and awkwardness following the loss of the love of his life. The young Scottish actors playing the children are without exception marvellously natural and accomplished, without any of that cloying, over-trained staginess that poisons the performances of too many child actors. The passage of time could have been better delineated in the story, as I often wanted there to be more sense of lingering grief and confusion in certain scenes and relationships, but I had to assume that time had indeed moved on, and emotions had too. Portraying the dad, Tennant is, without exaggeration, absolutely perfect and he and the children have a convincing and affecting relationship. The supporting cast of relatives, friends and others is exceptional and their stories are all relevant and credible. With the wife's friend, played by Suranne Jones, we see him clinging to her in the excess of their shared grief but, of course, dramatically, they have to get together as a romantic pair. I have no trouble with this. I also have no real concern that it happens a bit too soon following the death of his wife: who of us should feel so free to judge another's heart and state of mind? What sticks into my craw though, big time, is the revelation that the lover decided to get herself pregnant by him, without his knowledge. And he is all right with that!! What a woeful message to send the viewing public, especially the naive or irresponsible members of it. I bought the plot up to that point but that final scene disappointed me greatly. Would a female script writer with any sense at all have provided such an ending, for a major female character? I like to think not.

Amazing

[jamieltj · 10/10 · 23 July 2019]

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

Coping through loss

[kalyanisays · 9/10 · 3 April 2021]

When I dived into the series, I was expecting two things. Number one, amazing acting of David Tennant and number two being how would they show people coping a personal loss.

I am satisfied but actually more than satisfied, in fact in awe of David Tennant's capabilities through wide range of emotions. But, my second motive failed. It could be the fact that, there is a huge leap from Rita's death and the consequent scenes- a total 10 weeks, but for us, the viewers, it was just mere 10 seconds. We do not see the entire pain and what and how they all got together, to feel it is okay for Dave to move on.

As I said, I thought the show would be about coming to terms with a dead person's passing but it was my fault which I read later that it is about finding love at a time which society deems incorrect or when one should not fall in love.

I loved the acting, everyone's even the children's but the story picks up the wrong theme after the first episode, it is about finding the lost father or whether to tell her boyfriend that she might be in love with her dead best friend's partner. It felt, it went side track. We miss the reasons behind Ewan's real reason to get attention, Paul's search for God, little Evie seeing her dad in bed with someone else(for which I had to close my eyes- god that was so embarrassing- lock the damn door!) or the discussion of Tanya's pain about being thrown around as a baby-sitter(btw, her catharsis at end is well deserved). Alas, the show jumps to wrong ends, but still I will give 9 stars because it kept me hooked and I did want to finish it through. Just the pace of leaps threw me off guard. But the series really showed well the relationship between Lucy and her step-father, her dialogue- Stuart being her father but Dave being her dad was just moving!

Maybe it is in the final episode that he finally is okay with his partner's passing and scenes as such would have been what I would have needed more. What he is feeling, at least a scene in each episode to keep the continuity of the pain they are going through. Also, the new child concept should not have been brought through in the end, they should have just got together for us to know it was a happy ending.

My favourite scene was when Dave speeds through the city in hope he gets caught by the police, but when he does- he does not utter a single word to them- but cries at the side of the road.

too much melodrama

[rose-taylor · 5/10 · 7 September 2013]

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.

Chaotic editing and a weak script

[qui_j · 3/10 · 30 July 2022]

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.