I don't think my wife and I have ever been so unanimously quick to grab the remote and switch something off as with part 1 of this. From the first scenes in the taxi which were totally unbelievable, to the chase of the murder suspect and then Dinah arriving at work the next day, it was just awful. I think we only saw a maximum of 5 minutes but that was enough. Dreadful acting - can't recall seeing worse. I read in other reviews that this was supposed to be comic. To me it looked like a rush job with its corny, unfunny script - just something to get on the screen as quickly as possible. I guess many will think that I haven't watched enough of it to comment but just the fact that two people reacted so fast to get it OFF the screen as quickly as possible is comment in itself. For masochists only.
... View More(Update Feb 2016: Babylon is the black comedy U.K. police drama that No Offence tried to be. Highly recommend Babylon instead of this show.)It tries to be too clever and unlike true great black comedies like Orange is the new Black, where the realistic characters get themselves into realistic but funny/stupid situations, in No Offense, we are supposed to laugh at the totally unbelievable characters in unbelievable situations.For example, right at the start we watch a petite off duty policewoman hopping out of a cab to chase a murder suspect on her own - rather than phoning it in. Later she invites a victim home to live with her family - just like that. Given the amount of victims she deals with one would expect her to run out of bedrooms pretty quickly.All of the actresses look like they would be more at home policing up the kitchen rather than a tough neighborhood. None of them look like they would last five minutes on the street. British dramas usually go with realistic character actors whereas for this series, they seem to have decided it didn't matter. Maybe they think it is part of the humour - having non-police type people playing tough police roles?This series must have a big budget because there are always many, many "extras" with police men and woman standing around everywhere.I did try and give this series a try. I even watched up to the beginning of the third episode, but alas, it remained absurd, instead of being clever, or even funny.
... View MoreI get REALLY cross when people who have a regular sense of humour watch sardonic humour and get all bent out of shape. If you do not understand original British humour, turn it OFF! No one is making you watch it! Right. The show itself is like a fly on the wall drama, much like Happy Valley. It contains the same bitching, moaning and competitiveness that is in the real world. It also shows how relationships and friendships in the workplace grow and how you come to rely on all sorts of people you come into contact with. The storyline is actually quiet dark and gripping thrown in with some absolutely CLASSIC humour such as the cleaners on the phones with their feet up! I can just imagine that happening in darkened offices everywhere! I love it and hope the show continues in exactly the same vein. The characters remind me of people I actually know, because they are real not some shiny gorgeous eye candy who cannot act. Keep them coming folks 😀
... View More"No offence" has been marketed as a comedy and if taken as such,I can imagine it might well cause offence as it is as bloody and in - your - face as inner - city police work is in real life,with grim and bitter humour providing relief for the coppers whose job it is to cope with the madness and desperation that is abroad in 21st century England's green and pleasant land.And in Manchester. Imagine "Scott and Bailey" on steroids. Refreshingly free from the usual macho bullsh*t that cop show writers seem to think is obligatory,"No offence" centres round three women detectives,two of whom are smart,tough and clever and one of whom is clever but not smart enough to know that cleverness isn't enough in what is still predominantly a man's world. The first episode starts off with an extraordinary sequence where an off - duty woman detective spots a wanted man and chases him.In attempting to escape he is hit by a coach that runs over his head. Horror -stricken she leaves the scene,hoping no one had seen her. This is a straight if beefed - up steal from "Scott and Bailey",but "hommage" is a perfectly acceptable device providing it is not over - used e.g "The delivery man" slavishly following in "Green Wing"'s footsteps. Unfortunately for her,the uber - tough DI has found CCTV footage of the accident and recognises her. They reach a deal where the DC withdraws her application for DS and the DI forgets to recognise her best officer on telly. The plot revolves around a killer apparently specialising in women with Down's Syndrome,a theory that is so politically incorrect in today's "no offence" society that it is a reality check,an intrusion by the real world into the comfortable and often smug world of the middle - class sensibilities that have prevailed for years in the media. A young girl leaving the A&E dept with facial injuries is mistaken for a Down syndrome sufferer and kidnapped. Redeeming herself,the DC tracks her down and jumps into a freezing, open sewer of a river where the girl has been dumped still alive and wrapped in plastic,and pulls her out. There are no easy solutions in "no offence",i's are not dotted nor t's crossed at every turn.The coppers are often vulgar,dirty - mouthed and intolerant - just like in real life.But,as in real life,they hang together lest they be hanged separately. There is also a wonderful coppers' joke about a woman killed in an RTA whilst performing some sort of sexual congress with her Jack Russell terrier.No offence. This is a police world I recognise after having served over 30 ,years in the Met.Just the accents are different.No offence.
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