Siobhan: "When I watched the second episode I think you do see the wives and the girlfriend's angle – which is an interesting one.
“Julie Graham, who's plays Sean Bean's wife, she's a bit like Livia Soprano, a cuddlier Lady Macbeth. But although the other wives and girlfriends, as you say, initially seem like the crime equivalent of wags, it turns out they're far less oblivious than they appear.
“I like very much how they use coded conversations. There's one between Diane and Michael, which establishes that if somebody has “gone to Estepona', she recognises this as a code for asking whether 'he's gone to the rainbow bridge'.
“It absolutely embraces a lot of the cliches of gangster life but I thought there were fresh things - particularly in the second episode and I felt flattered that this is a show that reckons that the audience is smart enough to read what's not being said – characters’ looks and gestures, that telegraph what’s really going on.
“There's a cocky son who bolts down a host's fizzy wine with insulting nonchalance; one of those side things that gives you a nod that this guy's trouble...
“It's a slow burn drama. I don't think the opening episode does it a lot of favours but there are the seeds there of something that could be interesting.”
