The Inheritance (2023) User Reviews

It's a very watchable drama.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 7/10 · 29 September 2023]

Siblings Chloe, Sian and Daniel learn that their father has died, at the reading of the will, they are horrified to learn that their dad has left his estate to a wife named Susan, a wife the trio knew nothing of.

It's an interesting subject, families can be tight and loving, but throw money into the mix, and all hell literally can be let loose.

It's a bit of a slow burner, I struggled to get into the first episode, bud it gets better as it develops. As the bosh count rises, so does the intrigue. It's suspenseful, it's intriguing, it gives an insight into how fragile family unity can be.

It's one of Channel Five's better offerings, I'm enjoying their dramas more than many coming from the other networks.

The acting is rather good, they certainly went to town to assemble a very well known cast, we have the likes of Jemima Rooper, Robert James Collier, Gaynor Faye and Adil Ray, although you need to suspend your disbelief to believe that the trio are actual siblings.

How unusual to see a Channel five drama that's been filmed in The UK, and not Bulgaria or Romania etc.

7/10.

Decent family potboiler for fans of the genre

[JRB-NorthernSoul · 6/10 · 4 September 2023]

I liked the opening device with the family introductions done via a video taken at a family Xmas party by the soon to die Larry Lamb.

This is an easy watch all round that isn't going to win any awards but does what it says on the tin. If you're looking for a pacey little family thriller full of twists and turns and dirty hidden secrets give it a twirl.

I couldn't quite work where it was set, seemed to be 'generic up north' with a patchwork of regional accents.

Original and ground-breaking no, a brilliant cast no, a bit soapy yes, but it had some good hooks and it lured me in. Worth a look if you enjoy family dramas.

It Was All Going So Well Until That Final Episode.

[daviddunn-90653 · 5/10 · 26 September 2023]

After producing many poor dramas recently, I was a bit dubious regards this latest offering from Channel 5.

However, it was a welcome change when episode one opened with some pretty decent characters and a good storyline that held my attention.

A few twists and turns in those opening 3 episodes, where it was anyone's guess who was the culprit behind the deaths in the story.

The final episode, however, was a huge let down. It became ridiculous as if the script writers had run out of ideas and wanted it wrapped up quickly. The very final scene, at a point where we wanted proper answers to some of the recent events, just ended so abruptly, and the end credits rolled. It was a very unsatisfying end to what had the potential to be a very decent drama.

Dissapointed

[janweatherall · 6/10 · 27 September 2023]

What a waste of a talented cast, this could have been so much better. The premise isn't terrible but the actual plot lets it down for several reasons. First of all none of the main characters are in the least bit likeable, so your not really invested in what happens to them. They always seem to be drinking alcohl even in the morning, and they make terrible decisions especially the son. None of the relationships seem genuine or even realistic, and do coroners really have face to face meetings with relations about the cause of death? Then when the person is not even related they still see them in person? First the police don't seem interested, then they find a lead, but suggest the youngest sibling pursues it. The only twist is the perpetrator and the ending feels like they weren't sure how to end it.

What a waste of time!

[backofthevan · 3/10 · 26 September 2023]

Three completely unlikable dimwits in a convoluted story that makes no sense and fittingly goes up in smoke. Why do they bother making nonsense like this? Am I supposed to care about these selfish, stupid fools? Give them two choices: they'll make the dumbest most unrealistic one.

Half the time I couldn't figure out who they were talking about or why they were doing what they were doing. Do any of these people work for a living? They seem to have all the time in the world to sit around drinking copious amounts of tea, but only the brother is shown to have an actual job, a restaurant he owns and manages to run with sporadic visits to the place. No wonder it's going down the tubes. None of the others, including one sister's husband, appears to go to work. I guess they were all just waiting for Daddy to drop dead so they could collect a fat inheritance. Big mistake!

On top of how dopey it all was, there was endless television mumbling so I had to rewind continuously to try to make out what was being said, and even then it didn't make much sense.

I guess I'm the fool because I was actually eager to see this, so the joke's on me. Big fat waste of time.

Extremely silly

[veryunopinionated · 2/10 · 26 September 2023]

The first episode was fair- an enticing story line albeit involving three completely unlikable characters. None of the siblings seemed in any way related and the father was perhaps the most unlikable of all. Enter an overacting lady from Midsomer Murders to claim it was 'all mine, all mine!'. Murder followed hot upon murder. A semi-detached cop attempted in a semi-detached way to make some sense of it, in the process of course as would be expected of him, fixing on the main characters as suspects. I didn't blame him. They all were starting to look guilty, especially the husband who specialised in deep meaningful stares when he wasn't being uxorious and too caring towards his unpleasant and clearly simple wife. But we all know that's a front yeah? To hide his secret evil agenda, right? Well he could have been just reacting to his background music which tried its best to lead us all down a garden path. But as episode followed episode, who cared? Who cared if she had known about the affair? Who cared who got the money? It was clear the actors had ceased caring ages ago and almost couldn't be bothered opening their mouths to speak their lines. All except of course the overacting lady who was loving it (until she too ended up on the floor of the fought-over house) - served her right really as everyone else was completely embarrassed to be still caught up in such a flop.

Gets you hooked!

[simm-96403 · 8/10 · 4 September 2023]

Just watched the first episode. The characters are getting established and the casting looks really good. Interesting narration with hooks in the right places. Looking forward to the next episode. Acting is really good by this star-studded cast, with the character personalities being brought out brilliantly by the actors in the series. The storyline is interesting, if slightly predictable at the moment. Hopefully there will be some interesting twists and a tidy ending. Would highly recommend watching it at the moment. The direction is good. The proof of the pudding will be in the further narrative.

Good start, poor ending

[paleytowers · 4/10 · 25 September 2023]

Despite having a strong cast, including an underused Larry Lamb and Kevin Whately, as well as Samantha Bond, Gaynor Faye, Robert James-Collier and Jemima Rooper, and a good start, this drama fizzled out like a wet firework. The first episode was really good and I looked forward to see what happened next but it seemed to lose steam over the following few episodes. The final episode seemed rushed and a bit absurd. I couldn't really care less about any of the characters at the end. Such a shame as this drama had great potential but was let down by an unbelievable and over complicated storyline in the final episode.

Watchable until.......

[daveditch-53291 · 4/10 · 3 October 2023]

The first episode of this drama made me want to see more. In the next couple of episodes you could feel the screws tightening down on the three siblings problems and that was watchable drama. Otherwise it became a predicatable wandering plot with good moments few and far between.

Some good characters, some bad. Unfortunately despite some decent actors in the parts the siblings were just gormless bimblers easily conned and clearly no idea what was going on around them in the world let along their immediate bubble.

Some utterly unbelievable moments and wasted talents of great actors such as Kevin Whately. Others such as "perfect Pete" were simply irritating.

The final nail in the coffin lid was the terrible final episode, beaten only in the really stakes by line of duty. OK there was a conclusion building wise and the baddies got locked up ( very cheesey) but otherwise nothing at all concluded and no resolution for what had been torturing the siblings.

In fact it was that poor a ending I wasn't even sure it was the final episode lol.

Don't waste your time

[petertjharman · 3/10 · 29 September 2023]

Started quite promisingly, but rapidly descended into a tangle of ludicrous sub plots. Coroners liaising with relatives of the deceased? Police who ask a suspect to "keep your eyes open for anything suspicious"? A family that had apparently not strayed far from their place of birth (although displaying a vast range of regional accents). And the cast losing any belief in the dialogue they were forced to utter along the way of the convoluted plot?

The whole thing was a train wreck, with two-dimensional character and not one likeable. It amazes me how a TV company can produce a series like this - is the production company given free reign with no editorial input?

Enjoyable but weak ending

[underthebridge-23360 · 8/10 · 16 January 2024]

I'm a fan of 4 part dramas, enjoy them more than the longer running ones which really should be compacted into less episodes. So with that in mind The Inheritance definitely scores in my estimation as the storyline didn't drag. With all murder mysteries everyone is given a motive and one by one the most obvious suspects are eliminated. That's where it comes a little undone as the final reveal seemed a bit weak in the motivation department. On the plus side full praise must go to James Collier. He's terrific in this and very strong leading man material so I hope he gets more roles as a result. I'd love to see him carry an entire series on his own.

Enjoyable journey but disappointing ending

[frukuk · 4/10 · 29 September 2023]

I'm not sure precisely what it was about this that made the "journey" enjoyable. There was definitely a feeling of the characters being given time to breathe and events were left to unfold at a sensible pace.

The problem, of course, is that much is made of the "secrets" that various characters are keeping from various other characters. So you're encouraged to believe that maybe several of the characters had the motivation to murder. But, of course, at the end, they reveal the actual culprit and all that potential collapses to a single not very significant point.

So, enjoy it for the ride, but expect to be disappointed by the ending.

The title is very alluring but that's where it ends.

[janeyesc · 1/10 · 18 September 2023]

There is no suspense in this program, I would say soaps leave more suspense cliff hangers. This program tells you where they want to lead you rather than you making assumptions yourself. As in 'there is a half drunk bottle of bioethanol in the cupboard' when a half empty bottle of bioethanol in a cupboard isn't a suspicion but could be, they really didn't have to spell that out, they could of left that for the viewer to decide if it could possibly be the cause of death. The show is non sensical and silly. There are parts that the actors state out loud that seems silly yet I found myself shouting at the TV, that just wouldn't happen, why didn't they do that or say that. Save yourself the time of watching this, time you'll never get back. By the second episode the plot obvious, expected a lot more with all these good actors and could have been really good and real with the title.

Awful

[somethingreal81 · 2/10 · 27 September 2023]

A truly woeful series. First, as others have noted, there's not a single likable character to be found anywhere. Then there's the "wicked stepmother" who acts like she's performing Lady Macbeth, but with less subtlety than a sledgehammer and with motivations that never make a lick of sense. There are also subplots that are unresolved or totally underdeveloped (what was the point of all the old home movies??) and then there's the ending that feels totally rushed with an out of left field "twist" that would need significant explaining to make sense, but gets absolutely zero explanation whatsoever. The only positive about this show is that it was mercifully only 4 episodes.

Enjoyable escapism

[emilystewart-56688 · 8/10 · 28 December 2023]

I enjoyed the concept of this series and found it very interesting and relatable. I have a similar situation in my family with a split family and siblings though in my case it wasn't a shock that came out at the reading on the will! I liked the dynamic among the siblings and the first two eps especially kept me hooked. Like many mysteries it lost its way a little toward the end and didn't know how to resolve in a clever way but it didn't spoil my enjoyment. Good Christmas viewing on my5 and I recommend it with the caveat that you take it for what it is. Final question that went unanswered- where was it meant to be set?

Dreadful

[crumpytv · 2/10 · 28 September 2023]

Earlier this year we had Maryland (ITV) which told of a long standing affair that had been going on for years and nobody in the family knew about it. It was preposterous, but Channel 5 have got in on the act with this one, equally unbelievable.

I guess it is supposed to be a story of family dynamics, but it is hard accept.

Even fiction has to be believable to a degree, but this is so poor and the characterizations so wooden it is difficult to watch.

Even Lewis did the honorable thing at the end of episode 2 - he had had enough.

Samantha Bond, although always the same, is usually good, but she is awful in this, but there again so is everybody else.

The acting is atrocious and it doesn't help having a family of the father and three adult children all with different accents.

Very poor.

Obviously whodunnit

[grovehill-69182 · 1/10 · 29 September 2023]

Don't waste your time on this. Poor acting, weak storyline and obvious who the murderer is by the 2nd episode (at least it was to me).

The premise is simple. Father dies suddenly, his 3 very unlikeable children expect the inheritance, unknown second wife appears who declares will was changed and she now owns everything.

The main problem is that none of the characters or situations are believable, from the disinterested police officer to the loan shark ex husband.

Spoiler.... let's get to the murderer. You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to know who it is very early on, just look at the character who keeps showing up intermittently and is totally incidental to the story. Besides, who trustsc'estate agents' anyway.

Complete waste of time, not exciting, not action packed, not suspenseful, no unforeseeable twists and turns, no point!

Murder Most Phony

[ozjosh · 4/10 · 29 September 2023]

The Inheritance is a lame mystery/melodrama that stretches credulity at almost every turn. You'll spend most of the running time wondering why nobody is asking the most obvious of questions, or simply how such an under-cooked whodunit ever made it into production. (When they find out that their father has secretly re-married a woman he had been seeing for 14 years, nobody - not his kids, not the coroner not the police - stops to wonder why the couple felt the need to keep the marriage a secret!) It doesn't help that the three offspring who seem to have been cheated out of their inheritance are all more-or-less equally unlikeable. Performances are very much from the British Soap School of Acting or, in the case of Pauline McLynn as the Coroner, the Acorn Antiques School. Maybe a fun watch if you like picking the holes in silly murder mysteries, but otherwise best avoided.

Excellent family drama

[doctordonnasmith-20600 · 9/10 · 1 October 2023]

Really enjoyed watching this. Excellent performances from the cast, in particular Robert James-Collier who played the son Daniel Watson. James-Collier is an excellent leading man with great intensity. Great acting from Gaynor Faye, Jemima Cooper and Samantha Bond too. The whole cast in fact. Also really enjoyed the filming style and cinematography, particularly in the scene where Daniel goes to the caravan in the woods - felt very scandi. Also an excellent storyline - for those saying the siblings were quite unlikeable, that was the point! I liked the ending - it felt quite fitting what happened to them all.

Absolutely Dire

[kyuji · 2/10 · 10 November 2023]

Episodes 1&2 draw you in, loads of sub-plots, keeps you guessing who are the good guys, who are the villains, what are the back stories, gradually the histories are revealed which keep you wanting to watch more.

But, once we get to episode 3 the cracks start to show, everything starts to get confusing, new sub-plots are introduced, the cop and coroner seem to be incompetent at best, and then one of spouses suddenly becomes irrational in his thinking.

Episode 4 then arrives with so many holes in consistency, logic, fact and belief it was a chore to see it to the end, which is absolutely crap and provided no closure what-so-ever.

Very reluctant to ever watch another C5 drama ever again. AVOID!