I've only seen two episodes, so count me out if you are needing an end run at this series.What I did see is safe horror for romantics. It's not for me, I'm not a romantic, but even so I didn't mind watching it (normally I would) so critically it is working on levels apart from that romanticism. This is not Thomas Hardy, whom treads a line where the central characters are flawed rather than the supporting cast. Here it is the reverse if anything, and in fact any flaws are more the aberrations that tragedy brings. It's the type of horror that sets one weeping for the sadness of it all, and as a period piece I think is authentic for that. This is not a jump out of your seat horror, though it has creepy moments galore. This is a new vision of the age of Thomas Hardy, and if you enter into that spirit, you should come away satisfied. As with all BBC the visage is perfect, the shot framing wonderful, the little touches touching or appropriate or interesting, and overall the concept is reasonably novel. This is like old horror tales you remember having read somewhere, such as ones from anthologies, written well before our time. For me it was too romantic … a sort of we live next door to Wuthering Heights in the summer.The lighting was good, the details and costume very authentic, the characters engaging. The pace was good for television, but a little too fast for me. I would preferred it slower with resolution waiting for another episode, as some of the sub-plot lines require. There is the promise of a deeper mystery here, and rest assured I will be one of the ones that comes back to the show from time to time to ultimately discover what that mystery is.

If I'm honest I didn't think the BBC had the capacity to make a series like this, nothing to do with production or calibre, just that a series such as this feels less mainstream somehow.It's fantastic from start to finish, you get a horror vibe from it, it's full of intrigue, suspense and manages to get you on edge. Beautifully filmed, it oozes quality, the cinematography is sublime, and the music is perfect throughout, it really added to the overall 'gothic horror' feel of the show. Fantastic costumes, which looked incredibly authentic. I got vibes of the recent Woman in Black and The Others, a very definite positive.Colin Morgan goes from strength to strength, he has a definite quality, and somehow seems to have matured into an actor of some presence. Entire cast were great, Charlotte Spencer and Kerrie Hayes particularly good, as was the all too brief appearance of Fiona O'Shaughnessy.It's disappointing that a second run was not commissioned, particularly in light of the ending of the final episode, but as I said earlier, it may not have been 'mainstream' enough. I have a feeling this will be a series remembered for years to come, 9/10

The series is beyond words, truly another one of BBC's fine works. The plot is something that I have never encountered before, with its elegant and swift twists. The characters are absolutely lovely, and watching the character development flow is simply beautiful. The series take on paranormal is genius. It is nothing like being afraid of the beast under the bed, or the creature that lingers within the shadows. It is almost like a dreadful feeling of a living being stalking behind you, or eyes that follow you in a painting; and that's what managed to capture me in joining Naethan's journey. The concept of time between the living and the dead is very thoughtful. It allows the viewers to question themselves, "is time real?" and that's the beautiful thing about this show. It gives everyone something to ponder at night, staring into the ceiling with questions that have no right answer. Of course, I must mention the unique dark misgivings that invade the village. It is very interesting to watch how everyone copes with the hectic difficulty, especially Naethan. His struggle with trying to separate the blended lines can be frustrating for a viewer, but that's the whole point I think. You know a show is good when you have a love-hate relationship with it, and all you wanna do is smack the protagonist in the head, then point them in the right direction. All I can say is that it has potential, and hopefully the writers don't waste it.

THE LIVING AND THE DEAD is a six-part BBC miniseries about ghostly goings on and the man who investigates them. The central characters are a farmer and his wife who arrive at a rural corner of historic England and soon discover that the countryside is awash with supernatural events and dangerous elements. From that premise I knew I had to watch it, but I soon discovered that this is the usual kind of generic BBC nonsense that proves the broadcaster has lost the plot these days when it comes to drama programming.Visually the series is very similar to POLDARK albeit with a WICKER MAN influenced folk song soundtrack full of pagan themes and feelings. Yeah, the music gets pretty intrusive at times, almost reaching PEAKY BLINDERS levels of interruption. Elsewhere, the usual clichés of the ghost story genre are explored, from the generic possession stuff to hints of witchcraft, curses, and the odd cheesy death scene (the bit with Steve Oram being run over is physically impossible). Cast-wise, the main actor is the kid from MERLIN all grown up, but the problem is he's very wooden and uninteresting - can't the BBC give new talent a chance? There are some good character actors in support including Nicholas Woodeson (ROME), David Oakes (PILLARS OF THE EARTH), and Kerrie Hayes (THE MILL), but they don't have a lot to do.THE LIVING AND THE DEAD might be well shot but many scenes are rather dark and dingy and there's even a woman in a negligee wandering around in the best Hammer tradition. At times it feels like nothing more than a mildly supernatural MIDSOMER MURDERS copy, but in the last couple of episodes things start to really lose the plot with some significant post-modernist developments seemingly copied from Hollywood fare like THE OTHERS or American HORROR STORY. And this is the problem with BBC drama in the 21st century: a team of writers with little to no experience in the horror genre, copying what's gone before instead of trying something new. The BBC needed to employ a single experienced writer like Stephen Volk in order to do this subject matter true justice.