joeyblue-51953

I finally got around to watching this episode and I can see how much it has managed to polarise and in some cases, either move people or anger them. I feel like the concept was good, but it was fairly shoddily put together, the acting was passable and there are a couple of moving moments, but no way near as impactful as they should've been.

Children might learn a thing or two about an important moment in history, which is a positive, however there was very little science in the fiction and the antagonist was an afterthought. What was his real motivation, aside from being a silly racist? He was just a mere empty shell of a character.

Anyhow, I can appreciate the creativity behind the concept and the desire to put an interesting twist on an important story, but there are far better and far more moving examples of stories revolving around racial inequality that exist. Also, on a smaller note, I found that the song at the end completely took me out of the moment and had the opposite effect of what they were going for, why not use Ella Fitzgerald or something in that scenario? A song from the era the story was actually from.

I have seen some harsh comments about this online, but I have to say I enjoyed quite a few episodes. If you can work your way through the first series, which is a slog at times, as admittedly it can be very dull, you'll find a more entertaining show with the second series. Arthur Lowe had very good chemistry with Robert Dorning, who becomes a series regular in the second series and the show was better for it and a lot funnier.

As a big Arthur Lowe fan I'm probably biased, but with the boring first series out of the way, I thoroughly enjoyed aspects of the second.