Waking the Dead (TV Series) Substitute: Part 1 (2009) User Reviews

Not one for aquaphobics.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 4 March 2021]

Eve has a new (gorgeous) boyfriend, but a DNA sample links him to a cold case, an aid worker, Briony Havers.

OK, I'm the first to admit that the way in which Eve finds the DNA link is tenuous, it's absurd, but this is television, and it is a story. Once you put to one side the idea that it will never happen in a million years, you will find it a pretty decent episode.

I read the other review, and I understand the frustrations. I will try to put a different slant on things. Yes the discovery is absurd, but there's more to it than that.

Another story from Ed Whitmore, the previous started brilliantly, but veered off at the end, this doesn't have the same deep story, or complex characters, but it definitely improves after a dodgy start.

I've enjoyed the way Boyd's and Eve's relationship has developed, she seems the one person he's worked with that he likes, and goes so far as to call a friend, until he does what he always does. He shows a sadistic streak.

It's great to see Eve out of work, and out socialising, she looks fantastic, she's such a good character. A very lucky girl though, landing Stefan, Joseph Mawle is a gorgeous man, and a damn good actor, he shines here.

Better than you think, 7/10.

Not Waking the Dead's finest moment....

[PippinInOz · 4 August 2011]

Look, overall I am a fan of this programme, but some episodes are so cobbled together that if it wasn't for the strong characters and acting you would switch off after half an hour. This is one such episode.

It would appear to me that the weakest, least believable episodes invariably feature 'the other', no - not sex - but any group that is NOT Anglo - Celtic. Episodes that feature Muslims, the 'black community' (that episode where Spence's mum is drawn into the story line concerning VOODOO for goodness sake.... this was cringeworthy stuff at times), Romanys - ('Wren Boys') , they have all been represented on this series as two dimensional stereotypes. What makes these stereotypes so jarring is that put against the multi layered regular characters, they really stand out.

This episode has its strengths (as all the episodes certainly do, even the weakest), but you will never buy this, never really suspend disbelief and go with it. An 'Eastern European' is central to this narrative, so you just know they are not going to be trustworthy don't you? (Another stereotype rearing its head for the umpteenth time)

All I will say is, watch out for the ideological message about 'do gooders' - ie. Representing aid workers as being involved in some nightmarishly 'bad' things is taking a right wing message (ideology) one step beyond. Particularly when Boyd and Crew let perpetrators of evil not only execute someone, but also go free to continue with their evil doings at the end.

The subject matter is an important one, but this was a big big let down.

Not Waking the Dead's finest moment by a long shot.

How utterly ridiculous

[edgamble · 5/10 · 12 June 2023]

The ending beggars belief. Boyd orders the team to walk away from three people who he knows are involved with organ trafficking. He also knows that two of the men are going to kill the other one.

The longer the series went on the more outrageous Boyds conduct becomes. He verbally abuses his team, breaks laws to get evidence, and verbally and physically abuses prisoners. He has apparently convinced himself that the end justifies the means.

The overall plot is interesting but the excesses of the Boyd character spoils the show. In real life Boyd would have been dismissed from the force or all his team would have resigned.