Animals OK, humans flawed

The scenes/plots that dealt with animals were fine - and indeed reminiscent of the original television series - poop, tragedies, stubborn attitudes and all.

When human relationships were examined the writing fell down into sound-bite melodrama. If the producers wanted to look more closely at the fascist movement in 1930s Britain then I'm not sure approaching the subject using 'selective breeding' as a dramatic subterfuge was the right choice.

If the show continues could it perhaps stick to the sick animals? I think also they missed an excellent opportunity in not casting Professor Gunnell as comic relief. Of course he's a sexist windbag but did they have to make him spiteful too? If scripted with a comic slant the 'poisioning' could have reminded the viewer of the thorny relationship between Siegfried Farnon and his younger brother Tristan. Mrs. Munro was initially pleasantly dotty - but then we discover she's probably borderline bi-polar and agoraphobic. Rob is an alcoholic with a gambling problem etc. etc. A drama that has the leading character shooting a bullet through a horse's head in the opening episode needs a little comedy. The sheep had potential but they messed that up too!

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