Dept Q - 2 episodes in and finding it utter pish - anyone else?

[BigBoysDontCry]

I've been looking forward to watching this and now really disappointed. The acting is almost universally abysmal and the characters are mostly unbelievable. The plot is too but that's less of an issue for me.

Is it because I am from Edinburgh? Is that maybe how people in other places fel when something is set in somewhere they are from? I feel I should persevere given the acclaim it's got but I do feel like just ditching it now.

Same. I assumed it would be excellent based on mumsnet threads and it's...not. And I like Matthew Goode, and Kelly McDonald is usually good, but the writing is utterly shite, the characterisation is cliched and the storyline is rubbish.

I couldn't disagree more! We loved it, thought the writing was great, characters interesting and developed, and plot gripping. Best thing we've seen for a while.

One my friends is raving about it to me so I’ll give it a go - once I’ve got through the other twenty things on my must watch list!

The main man is actually the more believable and well acted and I don't mind his sidekick too much either. The woman chief is terrible, the red haired woman and the housekeeper aren't people who would ever exist in real life and don't even get me started on the kidnappers. Even the phone call from the school and it's the headmistress who calls and introduces herself by her first name only - like that happens!

I'm prepared to have the reason I feel like that is that as a local I maybe have more of a feeling for what the people would be like as would say someone from Manchester feel about something set there. I'll stick with it as I feel I should but it's not good imo.

I'm from Edinburgh too, was really looking forward to it and only made it halfway through the second episode before giving up. What a load of shite, it's embarrassing!

It's OK. I've seen a lot better. The dialogue is a bit try hard at first, but it gets better towards the end. It's too long and could have had fewer episodes and not impacted story.

It is pretty unbelievable, but most things on TV are. I was expecting something a bit like unforgotten, but isn't like that at all. Some good characters in it too.

I'd watch another series but not with high expectations, just to be entertained.

Started off good then got wayyyy too much storyline, too many people, names and become totally unbelievable. The plot got too much. Had good potential then failed miserably

We’re from Edinburgh and we really liked it. It is hyper stylised which took a bit of getting into but by the end we loved it. Helps I love scandi crime books and tv so felt familiar with that style. It’s very scandi in Edinburgh rather than actually Scottish.

I love Skandi crime and dramas. It's not the styling that i'm bothered with, it's mainly the poor casting, acting, screenplay and characterisation. I like the premise of the series, i'm not sure about the story yet as the rest is distracting from it. They don't come across as real people even allowing for "oddballs".

I’m on episode 5 and loving it!

I agree with you OP. None of the characters felt real people. There was a lot of suspensions of disbelief required. And the dialogue was unrealistic.

I enjoyed it apart from the constant swearing. It wasn't necessary.

I’m from Edinburgh too, and kind of liked it - but more for the ‘underdogs get together and solve the mystery’ storyline, which I am a sucker for.

But yes, a lot of it made me cringe. It was like watching a crime version of Take the High Road. Kelly MacDonald was totally wasted as the vague love interest (wasn’t her hair gorgeous though?). The baddies were totally stereotyped and obvious.

And the island - Mohr - didn’t make sense to me at all! It’s meant to be off the coast of Edinburgh? Within easy driving / ferry distance - yet it’s portrayed as being very remote, rural, insular, harbouring all these hidden family / community secrets and a whacking great industrial / murder site? Seriously? Anywhere that convenient to Edinburgh, that’s big enough to have its own police station, would be full of holiday homes and naice tea shops, not farmers and giant post industrial wastelands. And anywhere that’s actually like Mohr would be at least a days travel away. I kept thinking - how did they get to Orkney so fast ? Which would at least have made sense with the diving / post oil industry plot.

I don’t like the attitude of the main character, the girl that looks like spuggi is annoying and it’s about 2 episodes too long ,

the whole thing with the therapist is just stupid

saying that if a second series came in I would probably watch it

I enjoyed it but not because I thought the plot line made sense all the time! Just let the bits that made no sense wash over me.

I could have done without the hyperbaric chamber scenes, they added almost nothing to the storyline but were really unpleasant (I know that’s the point, but it jarred against the lightly comical/cartoonish nature of the other characters).

It was absolutely awful, I lost interest as I didn’t find anything likeable about the main character and couldn’t stand all the unnecessary swearing. Every other word was f or c - was that really needed? There are plenty of other police series that are good without it.

I haven't even noticed the swearing. That's probably reasonably accurate - we do tend to swear quite a lot in Scotland (ime anyway).

I don't mind the storyline not being believable but i am unreasonably irritated that a head teacher would phone a parent and introduce themselves by their first name only. For a start it would be the office or at most the HoY or similar and they would always introduce themselves as Mrs X from Y school etc.

And why do have the characters look like they are wearing wigs from a pre-school dressing up box and putting on an amateur play.

I gave it about 25 minutes, but I found the set up laughable and the whole thing just a bit grim.

They were making such a HUGE deal about how everyone HATED the main guy. "We all hate you", "you know everyone in the station hates you, right?", "I'm your therapist and I hate working with you"...

I was like, hmmm, I guess this guy is pretty unpopular. S'pose he'll have to go against the grain at every step. Guess he's a maverick, who'll be right in the end. Perhaps he'll learn to soften.

Couldn't be arsed!

"... the girl who looks like spuggi..." 🤣

I enjoyed it, but you could tell it was based on a Scandi crime book. Slow Horses has been much much more enjoyable.

Yep.
Dire.

I loved it - binged the whole series today whilst hungover!

I enjoyed it but it took a while to get into because I found the amount of F’s too much . I hate swearing for no reason .

I thought it was completely worth it for the Syrian sidekick, he was a great character and well acted.

I did find it stilted and stylised at first but it grew on me and it got better towards the end. Shirley Henderson was miscast though.