Kattiera Nana I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

rivanerakaren Great acting, great cast, extremely well made series based on true events in my eyes its a must see show.

Myriam Nys First the good : this is fine drama, lovingly crafted and acted. The pace is unhurried, the period atmosphere is convincing and evocative and there are a number of outstanding performances, especially by protagonists Douglas Henshall and Martin Compston, who show a fine chemistry. Compston's Peter Manuel is deeply, chillingly convincing : glib, cocksure, cunning, murderous and (who knows ?) perhaps not entirely sane and/or human.Sadly there are also a number of missed opportunities. The series does not succeed in digging deep into Manuel's psyche : the viewer learns what he does, but not why he does it. (Still, this may be an unjust comment, as there is a chance that killers like Manuel may not have a recognizable inner life or may not understand their drives and obsessions themselves.) By the same token the series does not fully explore the constant enabling by Manuel's family, which provides excuses and alibi's like other families provide food or shelter. Are his family members terrified of him ? Do they benefit from his crimes ? Do they envy his daring ? Do they belong to some perverted clan which recognizes no law from God or man, save clan loyalty ? And if so, where does this perverted clan attitude come from, and how does it function ?It might also have been a good idea to include Manuel's trial, which must have been both stunning and heart-rending. It would have been a good opportunity for examining a number of crucial questions such as : are our society and our legal apparatus really suited for dealing with killers like Manuel ? Where does one draw a line between sanity and insanity, between punishment and treatment ? (But again, this may be an unjust comment, since I have an almost boundless appetite for courtroom scenes and will gobble anything, including procedural discussions about venues or cross-examinations about stolen bikes. And of course it's entirely possible that the makers of the series wisely, and kindly, refrained from re-opening old wounds or stirring up forgotten quarrels.)

drbadass5 This is the Drama of the year for me from ITV (that are based on fact). Compston plays Manual great and Henshall plays Muncie great as well. This 3 part series tells the story of the murder spree of Peter Manual and IMO doe's a great job, each episode went by so fast for me and they did not drag it out like many other dramas have been before. I would say to anyone watch this mini series and the fact it is based on real events makes it more interesting. Manual was a cocky man but Muncie was going to get his man. Muncie investigated 50 murders during career and solved everyone but will be remembered for the Manual case. Manual was a twisted man who even did his own defense at trials after sacking his legal team, even the judge comments on how he performed his defense. He was a step ahead all the time until his downfall came. He was a very committed his offenses in a very calculated manor, all the time right under the nose of the police hence the title i guess. I recommend this 100%. Good script and great acting to along side it.

jc-osms Being from Glasgow, the murder spree of Peter Manuel is still infamous in these parts, some 60 years after their perpetration and he remains I believe the worst serial-killer in Scottish criminal history. There was no rhyme or reason to his acts, some of his murders were sexual in nature, some were just coldblooded slaughter, some were singly carried-out and covered up, some were shot, some beaten to death, some were of multiple victims (he twice murdered whole households) and then left the slain out almost on display. A callous, selfish, conceited individual, he acted as if he was superior to the police on his tail, almost daring them to catch him. Thankfully, they eventually did, but not before he'd accounted for nine victims, finally being hanged at Barlinnie Prison in 1958.This three-part ITV series posits as his nemesis pursuing Detective Police Inspector Muncie and sees the latter drawn into a treacherous game of cat and mouse before Manuel finally overplays his hand and is at last brought to justice.It's interesting to compare this dramatisation of a British 50's serial-killer with the recent BBC three-part series on another infamous mass-murderer John Christie from about the same era in "Rillington Place". Both are good but with faults, the problem here being, almost inevitably, the simplification of events (a murder he committed in England is ignored completely) and creation of characters to presumably empower the story, as if fiction could have more dramatic effect than the cold hard truth. For example DI Muncie has as his main assistant a woman detective, which nothing in my background reading has brought up as based in fact. It just looks like what it is, a PC casting decision probably made with a view to modern relevance and to possibly broaden viewer appeal too. It had to be a mistake too not to show something of the criminal trial of Manuel, at the time dubbed in the press up here as the "Trial Of The Century", especially when the accused chose to run his own defence. On the positive side, the depiction of the times was fine, helped no doubt by the fact that the neighbourhoods in which Manuel ran amok are pretty much still standing today. I also think it was wise not to show the depiction of any of the actual murders, presumably on taste-grounds. The two leads are fine, Douglas Henshall, never off the screen as a cop these days it seems and Martin Compson, playing a villain from a previous generation this time as opposed to his recent turn as Paul Ferris in the film "The Wee Man". At first I thought Compson would be a physical mismatch for the evil-eyed Manuel, but I learned they both shared a diminutive stature and though Compson can't match the devilish intensity of the well-known contemporary Manuel mug-shot, he does resemble him at other times.I do think the piece could have been darker and sharper in presentation but perhaps the makers did the viewer a favour in cutting this would-be big-shot murderer down to size without glorifying his terrible misdeeds. One of the last men hanged in Scotland, I disapprove of capital punishment but if ever there was a deserving case of the rope, Manuel was surely it. And as for the strong local accents requiring subtitling, there was no problem in my household and it was good to hear the realistic vernacular of the day as opposed to pukker-English or bland American accents for a change.