Deadwater Fell

I started so felt I should finish
I thought it was pretty poor overall

Unfortunately it sadly missed out in depicting the police actions which would have found him guilty in the frst place. Mobile phone records of the call to his mum, fingerprints on the padlock, evidence of drugs missing from the surgery- he said he carried them in his bag-easily checkable. A rather sad effort to create a 4 episode drama out of something that could have been done in one. The TV watching public know a lot about police procedure now. Incidentally he wouldn't have been re-arrested at the end simply picked up on breech of bail as he was already awaiting trial.

The writing very gradually upped the info on how bad he really was. Only in the last episode did his true inner personality emerge. A good depiction of psychopathy. It didn't follow a route to be expected from watching other dramas. We didn't need to see the court case and sentencing.

I think the confusion of going back and forwards in time is now an established formula intended to convince us that we are watching something of depth and quality. Even the recent Little Women suffered this trend.

Ending was a bit flat - no courtroom drama, no getting his come uppence etc etc

Well yes I was expecting it to be a bit more exciting than the kind of one I d already written in my head that’s why they re earning money and I m not ??

Not if you were expecting it to be someone else based on expectations honed by watching this sort of drama.

That’s a twist Jane10 ?that was the obvious answer

Perhaps cutting around his fingernails was stress relieving in a similar way to people who self harm.

jacq10
I so agree with you, awful.
Good actors, terrible script.

I quite liked it. I thought the twist was that it really was him that planned and carried out the murder. I'd thought he'd be somehow found innocent at the last minute. His mother was well acted. Turned out the genial country doctor was a real psychopath. You never know what goes on behind closed doors.!

I watch the first episode when it was screened and thought it showed promise so downloaded the rest and watched it on Sunday night. I was so annoyed with myself for doing so when it finished - it was awful!! Can't understand why David Tennant would put his name, time and effort into it either - Grrrrrrrrrrr. !!!

First 3 episodes really good. Last episode very slow and poorly written ending.

Very disappointing ending.So many anomalies all round.
The main one being that having killed his wife and much loved children he intended to kill himself.Why didn’t the insulin overdose kill him? Why once out of hospital didn’t he commit suicide? GRRRRRRR.

What a load of old rubbish, I gave up.

Yes rather disappointing. It started out in the same vein as Broadchurch but turned out nowhere near as good. So many red herrings or irrelevant sub-plot and details: the bleeding fingernails, Steve's uneasiness and near-breakdown, Tom trying to claim his mother's pension, the car crash, the padlocked door (wouldn't most rooms have a key with a lock anyway?), Tom lying about his past, wossername giving an injection (possibly) to her stepson .... and it was Tom all along, apparently just because he was some sort of deranged psychopath, so nothing he had done made sense even with hindsight..

Just about to watch this last episode, I had already decided it was Tom ( had to be him or his wife) and it looked more and more as if it was him, but was hoping for a clever twist!

This drama is not half so good as White House Farm, although as it’s based on the real murders is more harrowing,
But better plot and acting all round.

What a load of rubbish. I have wasted hours watching this thinking it would get better but it just got worse. Agree with Bluebelle that it was a weak finish, it just didn't flow and why cut his fingers, strange.

I hope not !

Bit of a weak finish, like a popped balloon it kind of fizzled out quite disappointing I thought I was expecting a twist
Do you think it’s left open for another series ?

Why was Tom cutting his fingernails until they bled? Weird.

What a waste of precious life hours watching this.
Thought it was too obviously Tom, who appeared guilty from the off, but the saga dragged on over multiple episodes before confirming it.
No expected twist, many loose ends!
Complete let down.

But why? They would all be dead if his plan had worked so he would never know. Don't believe people planning murder and suicide think quite so much about the aftermath

The padlock was to make Kate look bad. He made sure that she was the one who would be seen buying it.

trisher good point about the padlock