PippinInOz English police drama attracts me like a fly to left over cake - I see the trailers and immediately organise to watch or record them, sometimes they are less like cake and more like old vegetable peelings. This is one. An example of the latter that is.I have seen much much worse so if you are having a quiet day and just want something that is well acted with a bit of a tale - then go for it. Just don't expect anything even close to the calibre of early Prime Suspects or the early Cracker series. I realise that even the best police dramas have their 'plot holes' - I mean, take 'Waking the Dead,' another one of my addictions, even this has episodes where too close a look at the story line afterwards leaves you scratching your head as to just how the script writer got away with it. So, if you are a similarly obsessive viewer of this genre, you know these 'plot holes' are an occupational hazard in your viewing don't you. Okay, this could have been really good. Why? Well, apparently it is based on a successful book, which usually means the story will be strong. Secondly, there is absolutely nothing to fault with the acting. Olivia Williams is excellent, although......although.....Is anyone else getting a bit tired of seeing a female detective / police officer character who is just soooo miserable and terrified of 'relationships'? Well, I am. It is far from the only cliché here, the entire viewing experience was made much more entertaining by actually ticking them off. You will recognise moments from every UK police drama you have seen over the past ten to fifteen years. The idiot cop who is always stuffing his face when he isn't making some sexist 'jokes' (yep, there he is.....), the 'big boss' who is always on his way to a posh dinner (yep, there he is too.....), the loony psychologist ('hello again!'), the useless blond who 'can't go to the police' but who will traipse about getting into a pickle. A 'foreigner' who is also (surprise surprise) a 'bad mother'! Police who seem very very slow at picking up on stuff / leads. The outcome should surprise us as much as the police, instead this is one of those programmes where you sit there shouting: 'How is this, that and the other not obvious to you??' Not a good sign at all. Oh......and did I mention the weird kid? Of course there is a weird kid.......who screams very very loudly at the camera at one point. Just feel I should warn you, because after watching the trailer felt disappointed with this. Even found myself pressing the Fast Forward button a few times, never a good sign is it. There is something 'unfinished' about it somehow, which is a shame, because it could have been so much more.

TheLittleSongbird I do love a good drama/murder mystery/thriller, and Case Sensitive was exactly that. The whole drama is stylishly filmed, with the photography excellent and the location shooting beguiling. The story is very gripping and interesting, while the writing is wry, intelligent and sometimes tense too and the direction is solid. The acting is as good as can be, Olivia Williams and Darren Boyd are both outstanding and their subdued chemistry shines through loud and clear. And when it comes to the support acting, Rupert Graves in very strung-up mode especially stands out, and the lady who plays Sally is very believable. The drama goes along at a good pace with each explanation unfolding nicely, but here come my only complaints of Case Sensitive. Pacing wise, the first half is better and more compelling than the second, whereas the first half goes quite quickly during the last thirty or so minutes the drama slows down and I will admit my interest wavered slightly. My other complaint is the ending, I understood most of the explanations leading up to that point and the revelation of the culprit was well done and clever, but it did feel slightly rushed through and some of it did come across as far-fetched making me reach towards the rewind button. Overall though, Case Sensitive was excellent. 8/10 Bethany Cox

ianlouisiana In "Case Sensitive" the performances are paramount.The actual storyline is intriguing enough but the actors take this production by the scruff of the neck and run off with it. Miss Olivia Williams is outstanding as D.S.Zailer,bruised and vulnerable,treated with patronising tolerance by her superior officer and ill - concealed disdain by some of her peers,she - like every other female detective has to be twice as good as her male colleagues just to keep her job. Rxcently transferred from the Met - hardly a by - word for sexual equality in the C.I.D. - she is still trying to deal with the after effects of a drunken sexual encounter with her new partner the wonderful Mr Darren Boyd,a performance of quiet subtlety cleverly showing his character's basic decency and modesty combined with a determination and detective ability that should have earned him a Commendation from the Chief Constable. When a woman and her daughter are found dead in the bath it soon becomes clear after a peremptory investigation that the police have decided that her husband(Mr Rupert Graves impressively strung out) is the murderer and put all their efforts towards finding evidence against him rather than keeping a more open minded approach.This kind of tunnel vision of course has accounted for several miscarriages of justice,a fact not lost on Mr Boyd who delves more deeply into the case than D.S. Zailer and her boss deem necessary. It is he rather than Zailer who opens the enquiry out,albeit her gentle humanity coaxes the final vital bit of information from a reluctant child witness. Miss Williams and Mr Boyd have a wry,subdued chemistry that could develop into something interesting and involving should ITV try to turn "Case Sensitive" into a series.They are definitely a class act. With high production values and careful casting it is clearly not done on the cheap.If the makers can hold their nerve,something very substantial could be on their hands.

Tweekums When Mrs Bretherick and her daughter are found dead in the bath the police think it is a clear case of murder/suicide; when they find what appears to be the woman's dairy on her computer and a suicide note they are even more certain despite Mr Bretherick's protestations that she would never do such a thing. The plot thickens when Sally Thorne hears what has happened on television and goes to see Mr Bretherick as the two of them had had a brief fling while away at a conference… only when she meets him it is clear that the two of them have never met before. She flees and he goes to report her to the police although this leads them to suspect he might be up to no good. As the case progresses the police come to believe that Mrs Bretherick might have been murdered after all and Sally's life becomes endangered.Olivia Williams and Darran Boyd did well as DS Charlie Zailer, the policewoman in charge of the case and her sidekick DC Simon Waterhouse; other notable performances were provided by Rupert Graves as Mr Bretherick and Amy Beth Hayes as Sally. The story was taut and for much of the first episode; I was unsure whether is would turn out to be a suicide after all. When we learnt who was responsible it came as quite a surprise to me which is always good in a murder mystery although it did seem a little far fetched for reasons I won't spell out here to avoid spoiling it.