Well, that's amazing. I really would like you to set down some of these 'key points' about why it is so terrible, mainly because my own feeling is entirely the polar opposite. May I ask if you are sure you are criticising it on whether it succeeds to be what it actually sets out to be, and not because it isn't something it never remotely attempts, like just another moodily-lit angst-ridden star-vehicle for someone like Ross Kemp to mope about in a maverick-cop with a Past manner?
It sems to me on all the adverse criticism I have seen of MAYO that it is being slated for exactly the things that everyone who likes it appreciates (and those that do like it a **lot**). And yet it's obvious that there can't be any real confusion - what you see really is what you get. If you don't want that then fine, but to say its the worst show ever because of it doesn't make sense - its kind of like saying THE NATURAL WORLD is crap because you don't like animals.
MAYO is a FANTASY - that's obvious. You have to take it on face value in that sense, but within that there are excellently judged performances (Jessica Oyewolu is particularly brilliant - with just a few micro-acting movements you can even see exactly what her character is thinking), a very clever script (if only the people I actually know were so genuinely charming and funny) and really quite brilliantly directed and filmed. And the music is great too!
I had NO expectations of this at all before watching it, and because of a slight antipathy to McGowan I didn't really want to at all, but my wife did. We were both captured instantly. I'm in my middle 50s and I have grown up a genuine enthusiast of television over the last forty+ years - but I am also very critical. I can happily say that if even a half of BBC drama of whatever genre was as good as MAYO we'd have been very lucky indeed as a viewing audience.
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