What a shame this drama had such a poor ending. I was engrossed at the start and after the 2nd episode of this 3 part drama I was looking forward to a gripping finale. The whole series was ruined in my opinion in the last 15 to 20 minutes due to an ending that was poorly written, contradicting and made little sense.Ellen's baby was kidnapped from her home by Paula (straight forward enough) with Ellen desperately trying to locate Paula and her baby. Paula phoned Ellen demanding she meet with her if she wanted to see her baby again. That would have been a good time to let others know what is happening and where you are going... but no she didn't do that? She finds herself in a car with Paula and being forced to commit suicide in order to find out where her baby was being kept? Not a well thought out plan, but fortunately for Paula, Ellen bought it and decided to kill herself.She then swallowed some pills (presumably that would have killed her) and became unconscious for a period of time. But then miraculously made a full and speedy recovery and was able to not only activate the passenger air bag of the car using a 9 volt battery from a torch, which then smashed the windscreen (handy) but then proceeded to 'hot wire' the car by touching two wires together. What was the writer/director thinking? Whilst I'm sure this is physically possible on a 10+ year old car, it was nothing short of ridiculous and laughable.Towards the end we find out that David's wife 'Kay' thought he was having an affair with Ellen which turned out to be nonsense. In fact Paula did kill Kay 'because she was annoyed Kay kept asking about her daughter' At that point I thought why have i wasted all this time watching this program. What an pathetic, feeble story line.To top it all off the 3rd and final installment ended abruptly with no idea what Ellen was going to do for a job, or whether she reconciled things with her husband Ian. To sum up, this BBC drama should have been great but was let down in the last half an hour of the final episode. There were some good performances in parts, particularly by Vicky Mclure as Paula.On the plus side I enjoyed watching the beautiful Morven Christie. Almost made up for the ill thought out, confusing and ridiculous ending.

This production could have been a ten. A complex tale about a replacement professional being hired to cover, for a senior Architect, in a small practice.As the story progresses, you become hooked, and are left guessing about every major character. There is quality tension, in more than a few scenes, and unlike some dramas a more restrained type of shock hits you, which is far more effective. Vicky McClure is simply superb, and i could watch her all day, as my wife equally agreed. Unfortunately Morven Christie, and Richard Rankin, were not as eye catching. One can find faults in the story line, but it entertained us both, and was enjoyable viewing. I bet Hitchcock would loved to direct this tale. The ending could have been so much better, and in dramas like this, having rather different or even sinister closure, would make it far more memorable. I also think there is plenty of room for this type of work, and even wonder if writers consult with genuine drama lovers, as to how to get the best out such stories. Reading complete reviews of this is risky, simply do what we did, and enjoy it.

***MINOR SPOILERS IN THE LAST PARAGRAPH!***Some stupid people get tricked by a loony!Three episodes of stupid people making remarkably stupid decisions... but don't skip episode 3 because the most stupid things happen at the end.If you were to think of the dumbest people in the UK and put them in a 3-part suspenseful TV show, you'd do well to give this lot of clowns a good once-over. These people are REALLY dumb!Look - I get it... TV drama is a business and you have to play to the crowd... but even young people couldn't possibly fall for this ridiculous rubbish, surely? Please tell me I'm right. Please tell me the human race isn't going down the toilet and that it's just the morons in charge of commissioning TV programs! The BBC claimed that almost 6,000,000 tuned in to watch this so what am I missing that they are seeing?It's possible that this is some kind of experiment, where the writers try to get people to say "Why the bloody hell did you do that?" at the TV screens. It's NOT possible that this dreck could ever be taken seriously as drama. I think I can understand why there are only TWO reviews (so far) for this. Stupidest of all was husband Ian, who, despite being some kind of psychotherapist from a family of physiotherapists, wouldn't recognize reality or reason if the words were written on a brick in big letters and thrown at him. His level of stupidity makes goldfish look self- aware!I suppose if you're a twelve-year-old girl and just growing out of comics like Bunty and Jackie, this may attract your attention.The acting was fine (Vicky McClure was exceptional) and the direction and scenery were nice - but the story was just about the dumbest thing I have seen this year... although, I must say... the razor blade nightmare scene was good... but how did Ellen know that the baby was in the library? And why did the cops arrest Paula and NOT Ellen? I could reel off another 20 questions about plot holes, but I'm bored now!

This excellent, suspenseful three part thriller was all the better for featuring identifiable locations in my ain hometown. The tension was skilfully ratcheted up episode by episode as a routine maternity-cover employee arrives at a successful Glasgow city centre architect firm, where young up-and-coming architect Ellen has just secured a major contract to design a contemporary library, but who gradually suspects her all-too-perfect stand-in Paula of taking over every aspect of her life. But is she herself just being paranoid? Married to a psychiatrist (and whose mother was also a shrink), with whom she's just had their first child, we learn that they first met when she was his patient. Not until the conclusive final episode does it become abundantly clear just who the psychologically disturbed party really is, indeed there was actually a point where it seemed as if evil was going to win out but a miraculous near-death recovery precipitates an ending where just desserts are served all round, including to her less than staunch husband and loose ends are tied up.The title of the piece might seem unimaginative but in fact once the evil-doer's intentions become clear, it's obvious that it's not only her rival's job as lead architect that she's attempting to replace.The idea of the deranged home-wrecking female of course has been around for years but I liked the twist here of the real motivation for the perpetrator's deranged actions which again aren't revealed until the end and turned out to centre on child-loss bereavement. Actually, whilst saying that, I was probably a little disappointed when a murder occurs out of nowhere in the form of the suspicious death of the wife of the husband and wife business owners, as I thought at that stage the drama didn't need any further heightening but thankfully it didn't trigger a spree of killings which narrative restraint I must admit I appreciated.The acting by the principals was very good throughout, Morven Davies as the triumphant young career-mother who can't quite believe what is happening to her, Dougray Scott as her conflicted but admiring boss and especially Vicky McClure, last seen on the right side of the law in "Line Of Duty", now excelling as the unhinged Paula, portrayed almost as a Mary Poppins' evil doppelgänger.Sure there were some holes in the plot and some of the characters' actions and motivations didn't always add up, but in the end it played out very well in a clear, bright production (it's shot almost entirely in daylight, office hours with no clichéd danger-at-midnight darkness scenes) that was well-filled, well-paced, well acted and well executed.