Ridley Road is inspired by a real life clash between UK fascists and Jewish Resisters in London's East End in the early 60's. The contemporary parallels are unmissable with antisemitism and racist hate crimes at record levels.
So I was expecting something a lot more dynamic and engaging than the first episode which took forever to get going and kept going off on romantic tangents.
Direction and script were most at fault, lots of really tight frame cropping for some reason and the script was heavy with platitudes and clunky exposition and short on action. The score was odd, lots of curious mood music that didn't reflect the period or add much.
Cast were uneven but generally good, the lead character was too passive, it didn't seem to be her story. All in all a bit disappointing.
So I was expecting something a lot more dynamic and engaging than the first episode which took forever to get going and kept going off on romantic tangents.
Direction and script were most at fault, lots of really tight frame cropping for some reason and the script was heavy with platitudes and clunky exposition and short on action. The score was odd, lots of curious mood music that didn't reflect the period or add much.
Cast were uneven but generally good, the lead character was too passive, it didn't seem to be her story. All in all a bit disappointing.