Back To Life

[robhug]

Hadn't heard of this and now disappointed its not about a bit of 80's R&B nostaligia. 1/10.

[Custard]

Yeah, this is a pretty good show. Only watched the first series a few months back, so this second run is nice to see so soon

I like that it's funny and can be a bit daft yet is mostly grounded and realistic, and as others have said Ade Edmondson is really good as the vengeful dad

Quite like that her dad is getting more things to do this time, and his reactions whenever he sees the man who had an affair with his wife. "Is that a quiche?"

[Icehaven]

Didn't like the second series. The lesser characters' (probation officer, dad, bank teller, WI members) unreasonability and obnoxiousness was distractingly irritating. Lot of time filling drone beach shots too, whole story could have been an hour.

[Malcy]

Rewatched the first series at the weekend thinking I couldn't remember most of what happened but after watching realised I did and really enjoyed it all over again. Went straight into series 2 and thought that was great as well.

All the characters are great and it was good to see the parents get a more substantial role this time around. The dad is like a cross between Bill Nighy and the guy who plays Lucy's dad in Not Going Out. I'd happily welcome a 3rd series and know Haggard has an idea in mind.

Ade Edmondson is a great on screen presence. Haven't seen him outside of much else rather than the obvious but in this and Eastenders he's been brilliant. Useless cop is always good value too. Don't know how much input Haggard had in the casting but it's always spot on.

I didn't realise it was going to continue pretty much where the 1st series left off which was a nice surprise and worked well when rewatching the 1st series right before the 2nd.

Jo Martin's character is great too. And I like how the show is creative with it's swearing at times as well.

[steveh]

Series 1 I really liked and series 2 I thought was almost as good, though I agree there was a bit of stretching out of the story. It perhaps lost something in the atmosphere it had in the first, but that was probably inevitable as she became more certain of how she now fitted in and the people she could trust - or not. Do hope there will be a third series.

[Virgo76]

Enjoyed both series.
Not sure it needs a third one though. Feels like it's run its course now.

[Ignatius_S]

...Ade Edmondson is a great on screen presence. Haven't seen him outside of much else rather than the obvious but in this and Eastenders he's been brilliant. Useless cop is always good value too. Don't know how much input Haggard had in the casting but it's always spot on...

Because of Haggard's role, I would expect that she has a fair bit of influence -  however, she did mention about how they got Edmondson involved, during a recent interview: https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/comedy/daisy-haggard-back-to-life-big-rt-interview/...

re: Edmondson - he's been really in everything I've seen him. Absolutely loved him in the War and Peace series a few years ago.

*edit* sorry - didn't mean to cut out your comment about a third series - Haggard discusses this in the interview too.

[Malcy]

Because of Haggard's role, I would expect that she has a fair bit of influence -  however, she did mention about how they got Edmondson involved, during a recent interview: https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/comedy/daisy-haggard-back-to-life-big-rt-interview/...

re: Edmondson - he's been really in everything I've seen him. Absolutely loved him in the War and Peace series a few years ago.

*edit* sorry - didn't mean to cut out your comment about a third series - Haggard discusses this in the interview too.

Great thanks, I forgot to go back and read that interview. Didn't want to before watching the 2nd series.

[Thosworth]

Great line from Ep 5, when seeing a single magpie, and one I shall now be using in future:
"Fuck off, or come back with a friend"

[markburgle]

I also think it's a major cop out that she's done time for what was essentially a tragic accident. It would have been more daring if it had been some teenage revenge plot got massively out of hand - it could have used some ambiguity about how premeditated the killing was.

Disagree. That's obviously not the theme they wanted to explore, they went for the theme of a person unjustly becoming a hate figure and how that brings out the worst in the society that judges them. It may not be as "daring" but it's still plenty compelling.

[The Culture Bunker]

re: Edmondson - he's been really in everything I've seen him. Absolutely loved him in the War and Peace series a few years ago.

First time I saw him and thought "oh, he can do 'proper' acting too" was some BBC thing (a documentary, I think, but with some acted out scenes) about Chernobyl and he did some monologues as the scientist Jared Harris would go on to play in the more recent miniseries. I remember watching it and thinking "fucking hell, that was great".

[markburgle]

Another thing I really like about this show is it shows how the consequences of abuse radiate out and effect so many people, often including the abuser themselves. There's this real self-satisfied cunt of a character who abuses young girls and thinks he can get away with it, not realising that the worst heartbreak he himself has suffered was caused directly by his own awfulness.

It really makes you think about the doublethink embodied by people like that. Someone who can love his daughter in an apparently genuine way* but somehow not derive the obvious lesson that other people have value beyond being the broken receptacles of his creepiness and malice.

(*we don't know how he treated her of course. He was most likely a cunt to her as well, but she's not around to accuse him so he can tell himself otherwise)