Southcliffe
Southcliffe
TV-MA | 04 August 2013 (USA)

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SEASON & EPISODES
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  • Reviews
    GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.
    SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.
    StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
    Lidia Draper Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
    hayley96 There a lot of British crime dramas out there to watch. So something that offers a different hook - a show about the town's people and a journalist returning home - is enticing. On its face that's what Southcliffe offers. Small town life not as kind as it seems, a guy on the fringe, a soldier coming home, a cocky Lothario pub owner - it mixes together nicely. The first two episodes show us the events leading up to the mass shooting from different points of view and a little of the back story of the reporter coming home to cover the shooting.Then the wheels come off. Episodes three and four drag us through the aftermath of the shootings and offer up the possibility that perhaps the shooter is still at large. The reporter - disgraced for a Youtube captured tirade against the town - returns a year later to tie up loose ends. And, NOTHING happens. Long,, painful, extended scenes of survivors demeaning themselves. A sort of dead end on the "he's still alive" theory. Similar to The Leftovers, the overall feeling is "what a waste of time."
    tr91 Southcliffe really did sound promising after all I had read about it. There were quite a few familiar faces, the set looked perfect for the storyline and the plot was good. Stephen Morton as Sean Harris was an extremely dark and mysterious character who eventually goes on a killing spree in Southcliffe, we then see how this affects the lives of others.My main problem with Southcliffe was it was just painfully slow, the killing spree did happen quite quickly but everything else was hard to follow, there was so many different people affected by this and it was hard to keep track of who was who, and it just seemed completely unrealistic. The acting wasn't that great, certainly not powerful enough to make me believe a loved one had just died. I got half way through the 3rd episode and I was getting bored, I just couldn't relate to the characters or feel any emotion because it was so unrealistic and slow paced and I just had to stop watching it. There was just no explanation as to why Stephen Morton had just gone on a killing spree. Overall I was disappointed with the series but I can see why people would enjoy it, it was dark and there was tension. It did have all the makings for a great TV mini-series but maybe it just wasn't for me. I haven't given it a rating because I didn't manage to watch it in full.
    Tweekums This bleak drama opens with a woman being shot as she tends her garden; we then go back to see what led ex-squaddie Stephan Morton to go on a killing spree. He learn how nobody took him seriously and mocked his claims to have served in the SAS; this escalates and he is brutally attacked by a serving soldier and a former member of the regiment. The next day he shoots the mother he has been caring for before setting off and shooting at anybody he can get in his sights. Later episodes show us the impact of what he did on the bereaved, on the community as a whole and on a journalist who has returned to Southcliffe to report on the events but is still haunted by his miserably childhood there.If you like your drama bleak then this is for you; everything about the location from the foggy marshes to the plaintive calls of the marsh birds serves to keep things suitably downbeat. Sean Harris, who seems the go-to guy if you want a psychopath, goes a fine job as Morton and the excellent Shirley Henderson is great as bereaved mother Claire. Things start well but unfortunately turn overly melodramatic when TV reporter David Whitehead has a meltdown on air then goes to the pub and tells the locals they had it coming! There is also no explanation of how Morton is in possession of an AK-47 as such weapons were banned after the frequently referenced Hungerford shootings in the '80s. Despite these flaws it is still worth watching if you like emotional dramas; and at only four episodes you won't waste too much to if you don't like it.
    Alex Heaton (azanti0029) The first part of this was shown last night, and directed with a steady hand and unravelling at its own pace, its clearly a drama that's not going to be rushed.The writers have taken the real events of Hungerford, Cumbria and Dunblane as their inspiration here, showing the characters and the sparks that lead up to one man (Sean Harris, brilliantly haunting) snapping and begin his random killing spree in a small fictional town in the UK. The tones here match the bleak morning fog of this sleepy coastal community and the camera takes it's time, not always showing you everything you want to see, a statement perhaps that the film makers here are willing to take risks and its all the better for it. Clearly taking well grounded advice from shows such as 'The Killing' time is taken to show all sides of a person so there will be more emotional consequence for the viewer later on as the first episode ended with the spree just beginning, though we were given a taste of this already at the start.It's style won't be to everyone's taste and I am sure some will find it a bit slow, but in a time of never ending crap reality TV and repetitive game shows, its about time someone showed some balls and made these sorts of gritty dramas that we used to be so good at. It gets my vote and I look forward to seeing more tonight.