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Sunshine_pink
Reviews
In the Club (2014)
Painfully bad
The all star cast made me want to tune in and bar a few reservations in the first episode, I decided to continue watching. I really loved Fat Friends and had been excited about Mellor's new project. And I am a big Hermione Norris fan so was looking fwd to seeing this.
Needless to say it was a huge disappointment and I am really hoping there isn't another season.
The fundamental problem with this show was the foundation upon which it was based; the maternity unit at the hospital. The staff, especially the midwife Vicky, grew unhealthy attachments to the women at the parent craft group. It seems they did not have a life outside the parent craft group giving the impression that hospital staff have no professional boundaries, code of conduct or professional distance (the midwife who was also pregnant, took on the law hindering arrest, hide medical information to cover up infidelity and even showed up at one of the ladies homes and disclosed personal issues)......never have I come across a midwife who was so invested in a group of women that she would sacrifice her license...maybe the NHS is in trouble.
The women have just met, through their pregnancies but it seems they all have no other social outlet and have grown dependant on one another ("how can he say that about jasmine, she will never do that" Diane exclaims.......having known her a few months at best). Jasmine is an embarrassment to Asian culture and frankly to all women.....it shocks me how little value the men in her life have to put up with her lies and her badgering.
The other couples in the show had their share of problems but it seems only Roanna (H.Norris character) showed some level of maturity by leaving an unhappy marriage and setting up shop with her young lover. Kim and Susie and Neil are in a love triangle.....with all the confusion at home, no wonder the poor lad is isolated and horny and taken by a girl with intentions of her own.
This show was a waste of time and has not touched on reality. There is a couple who speak high tunes about how they will fight/wont let this happen/wont let that happen.....blah blah but haven't got a brain cell between them to actually DO anything.....
its a sad sorry state of affairs but hey, watched 3 out of 4 episodes and from what I hear I did not miss much. more of the same thing which case......save yourself the time and do something productive because this really is a waste of time
Ice Cream Girls (2013)
Predictable, slow and very forgettable
The Ice Creams is based on the bestselling book by Dorothy Koomson about two girls who, one brief summer, find themselves involved with an abusive, controlling man. The situation spirals out of control and they are trial for his murder; ultimately Poppy gets sent to prison.
Flash forward 17 years; Serena is married with a daughter in a seemingly comfortable life, returns to Brighton (although it was actually filmed in Ireland) to take care of her dying mother. Poppy has been released and she wants answers....she claims not to have killed Marcus, but if she didn't and Serena didn't....then who did? This three part drama based on the book; a book which worked very well and was beautifully crafted. Instead of embracing the story and being loyal to th characters, this adaptation has systematically destroyed the very essence of what made the novel a bestseller...its elegance, the vulnerability of the characters, the ongoing mystery, the likability of both girls and ultimately the twist, Burroughs was very rigid in her performance as the mother in denial, there was nothing likable about her (unlike the Serena in the book). May's delivery as Poppy was plausible but nothing special; her moping got tiresome after a whole; in the book Poppy had zest and personality who loved her father very much....Poppy in this drama was a wet blanket with a seemingly torrid stepfather, to further highlight her hopeless situation. The only credible actor was Martin Compston who played the ill fated maths teacher, even though his screen time was limited.
The ending change was a let down and I cannot imagine any Dorothy Koomson fan being happy about it. The acting/characters are forgettable, the whole drama was not very thrilling and overall it was a big disappointment.
Don't waste your time....read the book and appreciate it for the masterpiece it is and be done with it. I hope they do another remake one day, one will do justice to the book, the author and all the fans who were mesmerised and gripped by the novel form start to finish.