Penance (2020– ) User Reviews

basically a Lifetime movie

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 17 April 2021]

Rosalie Douglas is devastated by her son's death. The police assumes it to be an accidental drowning with him taking a night dive. Rosalie kicks out her cheating husband Luke. Her daughter Maddie is devolving into drunkenness. Rosalie and Maddie go to a support group where they meet a kindly young man named Jed Cousins.

The plot is basically a Lifetime movie or a sense of Jennifer Lopez in The Boy Next Door. It's that type of story. It's a limited series with a veneer of British masterpiece adjacent. It's fine for what it is. The first section rushes quite a lot. Obviously, they are rushing to get Jed into the show. It may be better if he saves Maddie from an OD. It would be quicker. It also needs an opening with the death. It has three parts so it has the time to lay out the introduction better. I do like the actors but the story is a bit too standard.

Surprisingly very good

[chloegalley · 7/10 · 19 March 2020]

This high intense thriller of a drama is very good. It will keep you on the edge of your seat brilliant acting with a good storyline. Be ware it does have strong language and sexual content. I really enjoyed watching the 3 episode drama . Ignore the low rating and negative comments it's a really good drama

Obvious

[walesara54 · 5/10 · 28 November 2020]

I cannot rate it more. Very obvious. Usual plot. Typical discovery by wife that would send normal people running to police but no, take it on herself. Poor acting.

Fantastic suspense, brooding and foreboding drama.

[grt-76906 · 7/10 · 28 March 2020]

Great acting by the cast, especially the younger chatacters. Julie Graham is excellent as the troubled wife and mum. It rips along with an inevitability but it doesn't get in the way of the suspense. Art Malik is also brilliant as the local priest with a protective role over his parishioner friend. If you love a thriller you'll love this.

Good cast, but......

[topcat1708 · 6/10 · 23 July 2023]

For some reason I thought it was a film so was surprised at the end of part 1. My fault, nothing to do with the series. I binge watched all 3 episodes together in the end because I needed to see how it would all pan out. (My thought at one time was that both Rosie and Maddie would end up pregnant, but thankfully it didn't go down that route). The story started off well with lots of twists and turns. By the last episode I was shouting at the screen 'you stupid woman, just call the Police', especially when Rosie had found out about Jed's aliases. Jed abused Rosie and Maddie's vulnerability, that bit was believable, but the scene in the woods was madness, she put her life and that of her estranged husband at serious risk. It wasn't explained either how one minute Jed was in the house with Maddie shouting at her, throwing her in a chair and generally being evil but we then see her back at the hospital with Grandma Fay, so how did she escape him? Good acting but daft ending, I thought.

Meh

[lcherresse · 4/10 · 28 March 2020]

There were a few good parts in the middle, but I ultimately felt like I just wasted my time

Complete dog crap

[tonymatthews_1 · 2/10 · 19 March 2020]

Re hashed story. Poor acting. Predictable throughout. 4 wasted hours.

Awful

[mandmgould · 2/10 · 25 March 2020]

Awful... simply awful!

Predictable storyline... I just wish I'd known earlier as I wouldn't then have bothered with episodes two and three...! No wonder it was on channel 5!

The find cast deserved a better script, predictable from the opening scene.

[kreader-40287 · 8/10 · 22 June 2021]

I would not call this a thriller, as it was easy to connect the dots, and be two steps ahead of the plotlines. It was easy to decipher what was going to happen next. If there is such a thing as a formulatic thriller this was it. Every key action point in the 2nd and 3rd episodes were predictable and sometimes tedious. I won't go into detail and run the plotlines here, but every twist and turn is easily to see coming a mile off. Still I gave it 8 stars, the acting is very good, Graham and Morrissey are veteran greats who did their best with the material at hand. Tallulah Greive is very good with a role that could have been meatier as we discover her hand in events occurring before the movie starts. Nico Mirallegro had the part of a menacing thug down pat, but seemed to lack empathy when trying to be a grieving grandson. Great acting hamstrung by a predictable script.

Terrible melodrama with unoriginal ideas. Just awful.

[teachermarkthailand · 2/10 · 18 March 2020]

I gave this ten minutes, but by then I wanted to kill everyone, especially the angry mum. As far as I can see this is just melodramatic bilge-water with everyone taking turns to either cry or shout.

Had potential but got weird

[familytomlinson · 3/10 · 15 November 2020]

Had potential to be ok, but the acting was awful, pace terrible and the last episode, wtf?! Talk about trying too hard. Don't waste your time!

Cheap harlequin category D movie

[cherry_town · 1/10 · 2 April 2020]

The script is bordering on boredom. The priest's presence is a must to add to the morality preaching. The knife scene in the nocturnal woods with a vagabond husband parachuting from cold Scotland. The heroine who stops short of calling police but instead concocts a machiavelian plan to get rid of an intruder. A movie where you are thankful for a single thing: three episodes only of this nightmare

Poor but watchable

[emmadart-21449 · 5/10 · 22 March 2020]

Lazy script, some decent acting and a story that conveniently overlooks reality!! Watched this to the end but it wasn't great. Is ok for watching whilst in isolation!!

great dishy drama

[joannehafner · 9/10 · 19 March 2020]

This is just what it is, a really good, steamy drama with excellent actors. i completely enjoy it for what it is. if it were american it would be garbage. i say enjoy it.

Predictable.

[daviddunn-90653 · 2/10 · 20 March 2020]

Just too predictable. . I had guessed the outcome after the first 20 minutes of episode one. Decent actors deserved a better script.

Don't bother

[mpc1969-1 · 1/10 · 19 March 2020]

1 was too much, predictable, cliche, utter tripe and every episode overtimed with endless flashbacks .

Unoriginal sin

[frukuk · 1/10 · 11 June 2020]

Really not worth bothering with. This is over long, cliched and poorly paced.

STUPID MUM

[aaraza-63335 · 2/10 · 19 March 2020]

No one has the right to say that father is less grieving than mum, its all hollywood. women seem to be very special when they lost a child and a man is monster who doesnt care about that. god damn that character, she did not support her husband in the hour of need plus she asked him to leave the house. who gives her this right to do that.

Great Acting. Great Mid-week British Thriller

[claireabellat · 10/10 · 20 March 2020]

Really enjoyed this thriller. The two main characters, Julie Graham and Nico Mirallegro, played their characters without fault. They were so believable and it makes a change for a more mature woman to play a strong, starring role. Not sure why I haven't seen Mirallegro in more films as he is a brilliant actor.

Worth a watch.

Pure crap!

[holmudd · 1/10 · 26 September 2020]

Dont bother to watch this. Everythings bad. Acting, script, music......it stinks.

It's a no from me, but I had to watch it

[la_fata_ignorante · 4/10 · 20 May 2020]

When you start watching not so good movies for the actors, where are you heading to? I honestly think that the director and the script where so damn bad. Too bad for Nico Mirallegro and especially Julie Graham, who had such great performances. But being predictable and having such a run out story, everything makes it for a cringey film.

Good acting

[susanworldtraveler · 5/10 · 29 July 2023]

I was looking for something that I hadn't seen and with the writers and actors strike on going here in America, that's becoming difficult I saw that Art Malik was in the cast and decided to give it a go!

I have to admit that twenty minutes in it was pretty predictable.and a little boring.

Malik did an excellent job as he always does and with this script he had an uphill climb!

The other actors were no one I recognized but all did a good job with a worn out plot.

I would have a difficult time actually recommending this series but others may like it ! Hope to see more of Malik in future projects but I hope he passes on scripts like this.

Good storyline but casting is complete catastrophe

[ttaskila-25287 · 3/10 · 2 June 2021]

I couldn't watch this series more than one episode due to complete mess done with casting -it seems to be prevailing practice in British TV drama to cast actors who are completely unsuitable for their roles. Let's take Julie Graham for example. She is far too old to play a mother of 20 years old son & a teenage daughter.

...And then having this young man who looks like 19 max to seduce her, can't see that happening.

Brilliant acting

[jonnojacksonjj · 10/10 · 19 March 2020]

Thought it was really well acted. Characters were believable. I didn't want it to end.

Garbage & Farfetched - just call the police!

[luke_evans-22804 · 1/10 · 26 July 2023]

Not usually one to write a review, but this was so far fetched, in terms of what unfolds it had me hooked to see what STUPID thing was going to happen next. Whilst watching, you think "that was convenient" to happen whilst making no sense. In the second episode you think to the silly mother, just phone the police. The acting was poor from a couple of them I must say, in particular, Maddie. If you fancy wasting your time on something that is far from what will happen in reality and just gets out of hand, with some stupid drama, carry on!

Even caught my partner fast forwarding through parts of it and she will watch some rubbish.