My Review Holding
Streaming on SBS on Demand
My Rating 7/10
There are some similarities in the plot line in Holding to the recent Emilia Fox 3 part series Signora Volpe . Both centred around rural village life and local characters Holding set in Cork Ireland Signora Volpe in Umbria Italy .
Both series centre around the discovery of human remains on a demolition site and both involve long hidden secrets concerning the origin of the human remains found.
I mention both series because I enjoyed the Italian characters and the beautiful settings of Umbria more than I did the comings and going's of some of the really unmanageable and rather unpleasant characters in the fictional remote Irish village of Duneen in County Cork Holding is a television adaptation of an award winning novel by Television show host Graham Norton . His debut novel set in an idyllic Irish village where an Irish police officer Sergeant PJ Collins, a gentle mountain of a man, who hides from people and fills his days with comfort food and half-hearted police work has to sort through decades of gossip and secrets to solve a mysterious crime.
The series really brings home the pitfalls of living in an isolated community where the town gossips can make life miserable. Really the only characters that I any had empathy with were the lesbian characters Florence who wants to leave the village with her partner Susan the local school teacher and move to San Francisco if I had the misfortune to live there so would I .
There are some fine performances from the predominantly Irish cast that includes Conieth Hill, remember him as Lord Varys in Game of Thrones in a total contrast he is delightful as the affable but easily flappable village garda Sergeant PJ Collins . Siobhan McSweeney who I recognised as the host of The Great Pottery Throwdown is cast as Brid Riorda . Siobhan gives a great touching performance cast as a dutiful daughter who was jilted at the altar and now sole career for a sick elderly eccentric mother who keeps putting her down undermining her self worth while both are drowning their sorrows in alcohol.
All the cast are terrific and it was a delight to see the veteran Irish actress Brenda Fricker who won the 2010 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her brilliant performance as Mrs. Brown in My Left Foot . In Holding Brenda plays Lizzie Mean the cleaning lady who has seen it all her monologue in episode 3 describing being raped as a young woman is so moving.
It's not a criticism but I suggest watch this series with subtitles as I found some of the dialogue is lost with the heavy Irish accents.
I enjoyed Holding but was surprised it was so serious I think I was expecting some Irish humour from the village characters especially as it's author is Graham Norton.
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My Rating 7/10
There are some similarities in the plot line in Holding to the recent Emilia Fox 3 part series Signora Volpe . Both centred around rural village life and local characters Holding set in Cork Ireland Signora Volpe in Umbria Italy .
Both series centre around the discovery of human remains on a demolition site and both involve long hidden secrets concerning the origin of the human remains found.
I mention both series because I enjoyed the Italian characters and the beautiful settings of Umbria more than I did the comings and going's of some of the really unmanageable and rather unpleasant characters in the fictional remote Irish village of Duneen in County Cork Holding is a television adaptation of an award winning novel by Television show host Graham Norton . His debut novel set in an idyllic Irish village where an Irish police officer Sergeant PJ Collins, a gentle mountain of a man, who hides from people and fills his days with comfort food and half-hearted police work has to sort through decades of gossip and secrets to solve a mysterious crime.
The series really brings home the pitfalls of living in an isolated community where the town gossips can make life miserable. Really the only characters that I any had empathy with were the lesbian characters Florence who wants to leave the village with her partner Susan the local school teacher and move to San Francisco if I had the misfortune to live there so would I .
There are some fine performances from the predominantly Irish cast that includes Conieth Hill, remember him as Lord Varys in Game of Thrones in a total contrast he is delightful as the affable but easily flappable village garda Sergeant PJ Collins . Siobhan McSweeney who I recognised as the host of The Great Pottery Throwdown is cast as Brid Riorda . Siobhan gives a great touching performance cast as a dutiful daughter who was jilted at the altar and now sole career for a sick elderly eccentric mother who keeps putting her down undermining her self worth while both are drowning their sorrows in alcohol.
All the cast are terrific and it was a delight to see the veteran Irish actress Brenda Fricker who won the 2010 Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her brilliant performance as Mrs. Brown in My Left Foot . In Holding Brenda plays Lizzie Mean the cleaning lady who has seen it all her monologue in episode 3 describing being raped as a young woman is so moving.
It's not a criticism but I suggest watch this series with subtitles as I found some of the dialogue is lost with the heavy Irish accents.
I enjoyed Holding but was surprised it was so serious I think I was expecting some Irish humour from the village characters especially as it's author is Graham Norton.
.