This England

The show is keen to point out its fiction based on facts, however, the scenes in the care homes and hospitals are trully heart breaking. The country was clearly unprepared for c19. The actors in the care homes portray the tragedy with care and perfection. We had daily figures from the government during the pandemic, but the stories portrayed in the programme really bring home the individual tragedy and devastating stories happening all accross their country, personal stories behind the figures.

A great, and deeply thought provoking programme. The acting all round was brilliant, in particular the elderly patients who succumbed to the awful disease.

A look at The UK Government's handling of The Covid 19 pandemic, from the point of view of then Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.

If it were a totally fiction based drama, it would have been quite amusing at times, with Boris shown as a somewhat jovial figure, however, as we all know this was based on actual, real life events, and here you get to see some of the suffering.

One thing that was well portrayed, was how utterly Clueless The Government were, unprepared, incompetent and slow to react, I defy anyone to say they handled the situation well. What worries me, is that during the current financial crisis, lots of these people are there, it's a sobering thought. It was an impossible situation, but one that overwhelmed and consumed those that were responsible for the day to day running of the country.

This was a truly well made and well acted drama, I subscribed to the service, for one reason only, I wanted to see Kenneth Branagh playing Boris Johnson, and he did so quite brilliantly, he is one awesome actor, and as always he nailed it. Lots of strong performances, I look forward to seeing more of Simon Paisley Day, hopefully we'll get to see day trips to Durham.

Very good, thought provoking drama, 8/10.

If you've loved the portrayal of The Royals in 'The Crown' they you'll like this time capsule based on the rise and fall of the Conservative government from mid 2019 through 20/21 with the highs of Brexit and successfully leaving it 2020 but the onslaught of the dreaded 'COVID' its all very gripping as we all lived through it in real time and losing family to it so equally hard to see it unravel in a drama but then this based on life experiences of key events.

Kenneth Branagh as the infamous 'Boris Johnson' not only puts in a brilliant performance from his gravely voice and waddle but looks exactly like him with his doting wife and look alike Carrie.. From Rishi to Hancock, all putting in a great performance, brilliant!

I was really looking forward to this, but my only criticism is that it didn't really know what it was trying to do.

It's a tough job to cover everything that happened because there was simply too much going on to fit into the time allowed, but no mention of Track&Trace and the PPE scandals was very odd to say the least.

Some judicious editing would have made this more engaging because we don't learn much from continually watching people walking around and saying hello to their colleagues.

All the bits about the dog (Dylan) should never have made it to the final cut.

6/10 because it's above average but nowhere near as insightful as it could have been.

There is so many takeaways from this, but the stand out is the realisation that Dominic Cummings is just not very bright. In fact, I'd suggest that he is a bit of a twonk.

More generally, this is well done - it is well written, well performed, maintains a decent pace, covers the key moments of the pandemic in way that is very easy to follow. Dramatically, it generally delivers.

However, whilst Branagh, as Boris, captures the voice, the prosthetics are a problem. Winterbottom, et al, would have done well to consider Anthony Hopkins' performance as Nixon. Whilst they look nothing alike, Hopkins captured the physically of Nixon very well and built the performance up from that. I suspect that the prosthetics were an impediment and, sometimes, the physical performance, the hunch of the shoulders, the wave of the hands, the shake of the head, comes too close to parody to quite work.

The dream sequences, just to cement that Boris is a bad Dad, detracted. It was off point, added nothing, it should have been cut.

Finally, Contagion. In the first or second episode, Carrie and Boris are sat watching TV and there we find Kate Winslet explaining the reproductive properties of an imaginary virus, which just served to remind me how much better Soderbergh delivered all of this. Where this was baggy - multiple characters introduced, just to kill them off - Contagion was rigorous, tight, taut, and all the better for it. I understand what Winterbottom was trying to do: to give the hidden victims a voice - but, ultimately, Contagion delivered a greater punch through maintaining focus.

Oh, and some of those politicians - Hancock, and the like - really do belong in prison. That Tory Government really is stained in blood.