One of the reviewers here felt he/she had to write a review to refute the negative reviews of the other two featured on this page. I agree with the other two that this is a poorly fleshed out mini series that even the talented Hayley Atwell cannot redeem.The police,and especially Hayley's character, spend over twenty years dancing around three rapes and getting nowhere. There is even tampering with evidence to secure a conviction, be it one of the actual rapists.This convicted criminal spends many years in jail, then comes out and sues for a flawed conviction. Absolute rubbish! Hayley's character appears to be about as incompetent as you can get, but ends up in the lofty rank of superintendent. She never admits to tampering with evidence.There is also a running theme that a woman cannot have a career and be a good mother and wife,and it overreaches into the current era. Pretty bad stuff. Hayley is good as usual. 5/10

I had to write this comment because of the two bad user comments that are in fact totally and utterly preposterous.This is an excellent series: good story, superb casting and acting (especially Hayley Atwell!), exiting and in the whole an extremely entertaining BBC production.The quality of the series is - as most of BBC's crime series - super: the three episodes in the three consecutive decades (198's0, 1990's, 2000's) are pictured remarkably good in the corresponding time image.I'm not going to reveal much about the story - read the summary - but the series is well worth watching . . .if you like good crime stories no doubt you'll love this one!

This was not one of the better police procedurals and frankly, a waste of Hayley Atwell's talent.The three episodes cover a 28 year lifespan of WPC Denise Woods from 1985, when she was a Woman Police Constable to the present time, as she is now, a Superintendent. The initial criticism is that other than a change in hairstyle, she didn't age one bit. One would think that with all the stress of police work, and in this plot line she had her fair share of stress, she would show some physical scars from the strain of it all.Her personal storyline was somewhat unbelievable. Promotion, demotion for planting evidence, and then promotion again to a senior rank somewhat strained the credibility. The overall plot stretching 28 years over three episodes left a lot of gaps in what could have been an interesting back-story - her relationship with her husband and her colleagues. Two additional episodes in might have been able to improve that and give some depth as to how she managed to regain and even surpass her previous rank and why it took so long for Denise Woods to catch the criminal she was so obsessed with from the beginning.Hayley Atwell is an immensely talented actress and she has appeared in some great roles; Pillars of the Earth, The Sweeney, Falcon, etc., to name a few. This was not one of her better roles.The three stars are for the production, which in itself was OK.

I'm sad to say this is a real let down. I watched the first episode and tried to watch the second in case it improved. The acting was not believable, the storyline was bitty and unoriginal. The characters didn't give me any belief in the programme.The lead character is a female cop, following in daddy's footsteps. The acting is poor but then again her script is so weak. The situation she gets in unbelievable.eps 1 is set in 1985 but let me assure you it came over as false. I'd guess it's a younger person's view who didn't live through it.Very stereotypical view of other cops in the series and not sure why the head cop needed to shout all the time at a new female rookie - it just all came across as poor.Turned off before finishing the second episode.