Hollington Drive

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.

Overcast = over acts

I often think Rachael Stirling overcast in any role she's in

I dont think you have seen her in the wonderful 'Detectorists', then calendergirl?
Very understated.

Yes Bluebell and seacliff I'm still watching, and liking it too!
No problems with sound for me.

I'm hanging on (with subtitles) as there is not much decent new drama lately.
Anna Maxwell Martin has the worst acting voice ever, mumbling under her breath and speaking quietly. Don't these actors go to drama school any more? She needs elocution lessons to learn how to project her voice.
What with young adventurous sound technicians twiddling with the volume knobs and actors who don't know how to act it's no wonder we can't hear anything.

I think there are 4 episodes.

I watched first episode and turned on last night to watch the second. The little boy telling his mum what happened and her not calling the police straight away was a red flag to me, then the convesation with the head teacher......i turned over!!!!

Haven’t watched this yet, so have avoided reading the posts. We generally use subtitles now, with many things. Especially Netflix. There’s nothing wrong with our hearing in the real world, but there’s so much mumbling in the transmission world. If not mumbling...then music playing over dialogue, or just looking away from the camera. Really irritating.

So presumably it’s subtitles for this one too?

Ben said he hadn’t seen the dead boys phone so why didn’t the mother ask him what it was he’d dropped in the bin.
The headteacher deleted her daughter’s messages from the WhatsApp group but the messages will still be on Ben’s phone, why hadn’t Ben’s mother looked at his phone. They’ll also be on Alex’s phone if it’s found.
Wouldn’t the water/lake/river be the first place the police would look for a missing child? No they combed the woods first while Ben’s mother was able to separate and check out the water.
More holes than a Tetley’s tea bag.
Housing estate looks very sterile, do places like that exist?
Agree the park and woods are nearby for the children but miles away for the adults.

I watched the second episode, I've no idea who killed the little boy. Not sure how many episodes there are, or if I will persist.

I often suspend belief a bit to enjoy programmes. However, this programme is pretty dire, shame as it could have been so much better.

I was recording it as I thought with Anna and Rachael it would be good. Having read the comments I’ve deleted it.

It is completely unrealistic and some of the acting is awful. I waded through the first episode on itv hub but I'm not sure I will bother with any more.

Is the posh woman having it off with everyone? sorry to be so crude

Hollington drive! Most unrealistic set ever, looked like model village, no atmosphere! What a load of rubbish! Expected more from a promising cast! Anna Maxwell Martin and Rachel Sterling. So much not right! Why did they not know child Alex was missing earlier? What is it with missing child’s father and headteacher ( she has the most sparsely furnished headteacher office ever! ) what’s happening with the permanently weepy young teacher? Etc etc etc! Probably won’t watch any more! Just last 5 minutes of final episode! ITV you must do better! But I could be wrong ………

At least we discovered last night it was neither of the children but Ben's mum is or will be in big trouble with the police having told so many lies and possibly pointing the finger at an innocent man.
The speech was no better last night and another thing that irritates me is we are expected to read messages on phones etc. I am partially sight impaired so that and acting in the dark drives me crazy.

Fell asleep yet again, which tells me I wasn’t riveted, will watch it all properly later.

Yes, both AMM and Rachael Stirling seem very odd, I often think RS overacts in any role she’s in.

Yes, still watching, even though it’s completely daft, as are both the main female characters, imho, but particularly Ben’s mum. I’ve no theory yet on the killer - DH thinks the dopey brother of Ben’s stepdad, but I can’t see it myself.

Anyone still watching I m enjoying this but who did kill the little boy ?

Thought it was a load of rubbish. Children can walk to park but parent needs a car as its miles away; took me ages to figure out who belonged to who; why wasnt a family liaison officer with childs parents; why were media and police not outside ; a HT who didnt appear to have anything to do but gaze into space; plus a parent who thinks her child is a murderer but doesnt tell police about the phone. Sorry wont be watching another episode it was a load of ....!

looking forward

I thought it was just me having problems hearing the dialogue. The sub titles are not working on my television so I just gave up in the end. Disappointed as I was looking to the programme.

Another one here who nearly always has subtitles on, have got ‘getting it in sync’ down to a fine art. Now if only they wouldn’t keep filming everything in the dark, things would be fine.

Curlywhirly

From memory, I think I read that the problem with modern TV sound is that TVs are now very slimline and so are the speakers; previously TVs were huge bulky things with large integral speakers to match.

The speakers are actually at the back of modern plasma tv's. How mad is that? The sound comes out and hits the wall, or anything else, but not in the direction of where one is sitting facing the screen.

Too many programmes are recorded with accompanying traffic or machine noise, together with awful 'muzak' sound track and on top of that we have to strain to listen to mumbling actors. There are endless complaints about many well-advertised dramas and excellent series and often based on people simply being unable to hear.

We use sub-titles a lot. We also have a Bose sound bar which is connected and sits on a shelf behind where we sit. It acts like a kind of all-around sound system and makes up for the sound loss which accompanies the purchase of a plasma screen t.v.

I really enjoyed it, and was sorry I could not binge watch. It was a pleasant surprise after reading this thread. I agree it has a sort of Broadchurch feel.

From memory, I think I read that the problem with modern TV sound is that TVs are now very slimline and so are the speakers; previously TVs were huge bulky things with large integral speakers to match.

I didn't watch the program, but DH and I both have problems with some programs making out the dialog. I know our hearing isn't what it was (is anything?) but I don't think we should have to use sub-titles. Is it the TV speakers/ What experience do have GN people have of sound bars/speakers?