paul2001sw-1 'What Remains' takes the classic Agatha Christie formula and updates it to the modern age: take a dead body, a house full of individuals all on the nasty end of normal, and a determined, dogged retired detective, and save the unveiling of the criminal to the final moments. In fact, whereas Christie's characters were generally thin, the characterisation is more convincing in this, although never truly surprising. The direction and acting are also highly competent, although the conclusion descends into (almost inevitable) silliness. Until that point, it's quite gripping, but also quite shallow: whatever remains, not that much lies beneath the surface.

Mouthbox We should know by now, from bitter experience, that when a copper is coming up for retirement it's a sure sign that something very, very nasty is about to happen.So when DC Len Harper (David Threlfall) walks out of the nick for the final time we've already guessed that he's soon going to be taking on the biggest challenge of this life. Maybe all police officers should simply start work on the first day of their retirement. It might dramatically improve the crime statistics."What Remains" begins with a flashback as chubby, innocent-faced Melissa (Jessica Gunning) moves into the attic flat of No 8 Coulthard Street. Something about Melissa says "victim" right away. We fear for her safety. Our sphincters twitch uncontrollably in our trousers.Clearly something's not quite right about this house. For a start, it looks exactly like the property in Simon Pegg's "Spaced", and several of the residents appear to have recently relocated from either Lark Rise or Candleford. There's also at least one familiar face from "Luther" which is scary in itself.Poor old Melissa should pack her bags and leave right away, but instead, in true "Scooby Doo" fashion, she climbs up into the loft on her own and gets strangled by a mysterious stranger.So, whodunnit? Grumpy old maths teacher Joe Sellers (David Bamber) is straight into the frame. For a start he has one of his ex-pupils Liz (Denise Gough) locked up in the basement, and he tups her wheezily at every opportunity. Meanwhile young Liz is less of a prisoner than we might think, and is secretly boffing the big eared boy from upstairs (Russell Tovey), while his very pregnant girlfriend is busy painting the nursery an unpleasant shade of duck egg blue.While all this is going on, we discover that prior to the murder Kieron Moss (Steven Mackintosh) was cheating on his journalist girlfriend Patricia (Claudie Blakley) by regularly popping upstairs and using poor Melissa as a human trampoline. Following this athletic intercourse it's hard to see how the architectural integrity of the house survived, but somehow the building remained standing long enough for the murder to take place.Other suspects include a couple of bitchy lesbians on the second floor (one of whom likes to bully the other by tying her up with straps), and Kieron's teenage son Adam, who spends the whole time trying to get into the knickers of his father's girlfriend. What's not to like? Everything and everybody.I enjoyed this 4 part BBC1 drama, but it really was quite difficult to identify with any of the characters. They were all, at best, flawed, and most of them were just downright nasty.Even with this in mind, I don't think any of us were prepared for the final episode, which left the claustrophobic and carefully distressed set littered with corpses and splattered with claret.There was us thinking there was only one killer on the loose, and the woodwork turned out to be crawling with psychopaths – the denouement making the climax of Macbeth look like a picnic scene from The Famous Five.OK, it was all a bit contrived, particularly when DC Len reached for his bow and arrow, but the twists and turns were so expertly engineered by writer Tony Basgallop that in the end we would forgive him anything.Stylishly directed by Coky Giedroyc, "What Remains" turned out to be one of my favourite drama series of 2013 so far, but sadly I don't think there's going to be a second series. Everyone's dead.Read more TV reviews at Mouthbox.co.uk

dreamquestin My husband and I have been very intrigued and thoroughly enjoying the "What Remains" series! I had not seen any information at all when I watched the first episode and wasn't sure what kind of series it was going to be at all.I will concede that the first episode is a bit slow, but this is because they are setting the stage and introducing the players. The story is very enthralling as more and more of the young woman's life (as well as the inter-relations with her neighbours) are exposed by the investigation.It is an interesting, if sad, commentary on today's self-focused lifestyle, where people don't know their neighbours and how that allows for all manner of unsavory secrets up to and possibly including murder!It is spectacularly acted and directed. Having only opportunity to watch the first two episodes, I am looking forward to episode 3 and 4!

charland-t I was looking for something to watch, and I noticed it was the pilot episode, so I watched this woman walk in, enjoy her chocolate bar, and suddenly go upstairs!...What follows is the feeling of Alice in wonder land wondering how deep the rabbit hole goes...It's an interesting way to pilot a series, starting with the very end first. I did not expect it and I feel it's playing well between how the characters are in the present, and as depicted in the past. Rating it a 10/10 because I came here looking for season 1 episode 3 to watch! The suspense is certainly there with this show, none of the characters feel out of place and actually you really have to wonder what role they all are going to play in upcoming episodes.