I just finished watching the first season of The Tunnel. I have not seen The Bridge. I very much enjoyed the main characters, settings, and cross-cultural elements, but found the story to be of somewhat inconsistent quality. Two examples (there are more) include: (1) An entirely unnecessary and confusing subplot involving a wayward French detective (spy?) was dropped in near the end of the season; and (2) The villain, who through most of the season is making national political statements through a series of mass murders, at the end of the season turns out to ALSO have a personal vendetta against one of the main characters. It seemed that additional characters and story lines were thrown in on top of--but not integral to--the main story. I will watch the other seasons and hope the writers/show runner will do a better job with the story line.

I have never seen the original so I'm not going to base it on that.The show started great with the truths and the police trying to catch the TT. Once it hit episode 8 or 9 the show became awful. So much plot induced stupidity it was comical. No point what so ever watching the last episode because it's obvious how it all turns out. The kid "Adam" just running out while he knows a killer is after his family makes no sense. I get he thinks it's his old girlfriend but nobody is that stupid to do that, then of course he leaves his computer open for them all to see. We all knew they would drag out the last episode with so much talking you could literally fast forward 95% of the episode and miss nothing.Show was very promising but became just like any other run of the mill garbage detective shows when it became about Karl and his past.

Have just watched the finale as they say it will not return. Have enjoyed the ride for the most part, the interaction with the two investigators and their colleagues either side of the Channel has been intriguing at times. However, I felt that the plot in series 3 was not up to the standard set before. In fact it was unbelievable at times and as the credits rolled that last time I was heard to exclaim "so that's it?!" Not going to say why because it gives too much away suffice to say the actions of the villains were IMHO too complicated for them to carry off while all the cops were on to them. It felt like Dr Who's scriptwriters had sneaked in at times...

If you have never watch the original, Bron/Broen then OK, The Tunnel can be rather gripping. But if you have then you'll know that this is a poor copy. Sofia Helin who played the lead female detective Saga Noren in The original was brilliant. Can't say the same for Clemence Poesy though, the latter was just too wooden. Stephen Dilliane is good in his English role but Kim Bodnia OWNED the role. Well, like they say, you cannot compare an apple to an orange. French detective shows and English detective shows have always been good on their own. They needn't have tried to copy and end up making a poor copy.