Hollington Drive

Overcast = over acts

Anna Maxwell Martin is an extremely accomplished and versatile actress, who trained at LAMDA after university
and has a varied career working in television, theatre and films, so I think she does know how to act, and how to project and modulate her voice. Her husband Roger Mitchell, from whom she was separated, died very recently, which may have affected her performance.
That said, this production is dire.

I always use subtitles for every drama so no problems for me in the way of sound
The only thing I will agree about is why they have little tiny writing on cards or phones and not bother with the few words as subtitles like you charlie my eyes let me down for small print and it’s very irritating
Well I obvious
Y not so sophisticated as you lot as I m enjoying it only thing I agree is the set looks ridiculous like toy town

Surely the sterile looking model villagy set is deliberate though, as is using "drive" instead of road or street. It seems to be making some sort of point about the hidden undercurrents in what should be an attractive and safe environment.

I neglected to record the first episode so watched it through ITV Hub to catch-up. Not quite so satisfying as you can’t “zoom” through the commercials but more irritated that subtitles were “unavailable”.
The relationships of the children to one another was not clear, but plenty of time to mull over this during the commercials.
I too thought the “model houses” sequence in the titles was creepy.

Exactly that Ilovecheese!!
I am enjoying it, and find it in no way dire.
I love the exposure of the relationship between the sisters (which clearly hangs on a past situation).
Didn't take long for Rachael Stirlings character to drop her less confident sister in it.

The sound issue that some have mentioned, brings to mind the second series of Happy Valley starring Sarah Lancashire. The BBC received many complaints but they could not find a reason. I used to contribute to the online BBC Points of View forum (now defunct) and this “poor sound” thread certainly triggered a variety of responses along the lines of: it’s your TV set/it’s old,/it’s inferior/ you need a hearing test/ I could here it fine, stop moaning etc etc..on and on it went.
I seem to recall that by the second episode, some engineers had done some twiddling and it was improved
Funny though I and most said they never experienced this with very old televisions from decades ago and the sound quality on most old programmes was perfect. Mysterious isn’t it

No, I never watched the Detectorists Namsnanny. She was in a Midsomer Murders the other night, and I thought she over acted in that. Perhaps it’s me.

She was in ‘Tipping The Velvet’ years ago, I think, she was good in that.

As she gets older, she looks so much like her mother Diana Rigg, and I wonder if she is trying to emulate her somehow, and it all comes across as a bit intense.

To me anyhow.

Grandmarderby the children are cousins and a class mate of the murdered boy

Granmarderby10 I agree absolutely. I have no problem with older productions where everyone speaks clearly and the relationship between voices and background sounds/music has been calculated to make the speaking audible. Today there is less emphasis on actors speaking clearly and the sound technicians seems to be playing games with the volume settings.
I'm sorry eazybee but no matter how accomplished Anna Maxwell Martin may be she is mumbling quietly away and cannot be heard.

That is down to the production team. She was crystal clear in Line of Duty and in Bleak House, which span her television career.

I’ve only watched the first episode so far but I always have subtitles on for everything nowadays so I knew what was happening. I did wonder when the children could go to the park “for half an hour” when it seemed to be miles away from their homes!

Agree there I was very surprised when she got in her car to go find them
I wonder why people don’t use subtitles I haven’t noticed any mumbling at all because if you listen and read at the same time you hear it all

Watched episode 2 on catch up, so caught up.

AMM seems a strange mother, girlfriend, sister. Obviously lots of past history which we have only seen glimpses of. Neither she nor Helen seem to have a very good relationship with their partners.

It will be another drama with a peculiar ending, I predict.

It all comes across as intense, ti me anyhow
With regards to this production I agree with you calendergirl.
It is a almost what we used to call a melodrama.

I can't think of two other actors who could do a better job though.

The driving to the park scene with AMM was a bit odd.
I wondered if it was to highlight the reason why she didnt want the children to go?
To show her instinct was right, whilst her partners influence convinced her otherwise.
We can see she is less confident with her sister also.

Anyway, I'm enjoying it, and I wish others could also.

Rachel Stirling over acting as the unbelivable head teacher who just seems to sit at her desk and close her laptop and play with her hair.

Granmarderby10

I neglected to record the first episode so watched it through ITV Hub to catch-up. Not quite so satisfying as you can’t “zoom” through the commercials but more irritated that subtitles were “unavailable”.
The relationships of the children to one another was not clear, but plenty of time to mull over this during the commercials.
I too thought the “model houses” sequence in the titles was creepy.

That’s strange, I watched both episodes yesterday on the ITV Hub and was able to use the subtitles.

I'm still finding this series enjoyable. The twists are good. I have a few ideas about where the plot may go, but its best not to speculate and ruin it for others.

I thought the houses were models but read somewhere that it is a real place in Wales, found after a lot of looking by a location scout.

I saw the first two episodes but I just couldn't warm to it.

Nope, persevered , but now given up, unlike us to do do that.

I watched the first two on ITVhub, then last night’s on ITV+1.
It helped to watch them close together.
At times I found the sound was poor, but this is often the case. We have a Bose soundbar, so I cannot blame our TV. It seems that the sound engineers often mess about with too much background noise, or poorly placed microphones, especially when recorded with social distancing.
As for the plot, the implausibles have already been mentioned. And it gets worse. There are still flashbacks that don’t make sense, and idiotic behaviour by most of the characters. But i will stick with it and watch the final episode. Just glad there are not six!

What an unpleasant pair of sisters. I am hanging on in there in the hopes they will get their comeuppance.

Think there will be some past history with the sisters and their mother. All this about how mum started the cafe business. Theresa seemed to be the favourite.

Helen’s fling with Alex’s father seems odd. He appears a bit of rough compared to her husband.

Both sisters distinctly unlovable, surprised either of them manage to hang on to any partner.

I suspect that David was responsible for Alex's abduction and murder as a way of punishing the child's parents for the Dad having an affair with his own wife and he's attempted to take his own life out of guilt. Just saying but I do agree, there's a back story on Theresa and her sister and the flashbacks to the boat on the lake and Theresa diving into the water must have something to do with the way that both women currently behave.