This is an excellent series and I wish they had done more. The storyline shows some up of the less savoury aspects of the church and does so with humour and sensitivity, if also with a touch of melodrama. The Tonks (especially Mrs) were perfect villains, and Layla was loathsome. Jake was a delightfully disruptive influence, and Esther's growth through the episodes was just right. This was the first show I'd seen with Sarah Lancashire, and I was an immediate fan. And it was so nice to see a character with a difference treated in such a positive light. I loved the music and the arrangements, especially for Esther's choir, were brilliant.
I think this series would have benefited from another couple of episodes so that more time could have been spent on character development - especially of Layla, who was something of a one-dimensional villain. We never really got to know how she turned the way she did.
I wasn't totally convinced by some of the casting. Not that the acting wasn't good, but I thought Georgia looked much more like she could have been Layla's daughter than she did either Esther or Michael's, and I found that distracting, especially when there was no likeness at all between Layla and Jake (which also meant that I felt a bit cheated when the truth of their relationship was revealed). The other thing I found annoying was the unnecessary amount of swearing throughout, from virtually all the characters. Given that the show is about a church choir, this felt as though it was pandering to the masses rather than a realistic portrayal of the people involved. One or even two people being free with their language would have been realistic, but everyone?
This series is definitely a keeper, to be watched again and again.
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