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Finding Alice sees the titular character, played by Keeley Hawes (Honour), having moved into a house which was designed by her husband, Harry (Jason Merrells).
Sadly, Harry has since passed away following a fall. No-one knows how it happened, no-one saw anything and the police want answers the very next day after he died… which does seem rather insensitive.
However, Mr Merrells doesn’t get to rest on his laurels too much, since he still appears in flashbacks.
The place where she lives in a ‘smart house’ but as her father-in-law, Gerry (Kenneth Cranham – I still love Hellbound: Hellraiser II), says, it’s not so ‘smart’ if you can’t figure out how to open the curtains. Plus, she can’t even find the fridge amongst all the tech in the kitchen, nor work out how to flush the toilet(!)
Joanna Lumley (Paddington 2), as Sarah, is like a typical fussy mother to Alice, wanting to stick her oar even, even though it’s not wanted, especially in telling her, “You won’t like this, but… you’ll meet someone else, in time…”
The elders are rounded out by mother-in-law Minnie (Gemma Jones – Marvellous), and her father, Roger (Nigel Havers – All Creatures Great And Small 2020).
Other issues she’s having including the trouble accessing her husband’s bank account over the phone. I would cetainly object to the nrepresentative representation of the agent she speaks to who, after she loses her rag and swears in frustration, he reacts as if to take it personally. In that situation, you should take a much more measured tone with someone who’d just lost a close relative.
What would happen normally is that you’d be able to transfer an account from his name to her’s once a death certificate was obtained in due course, but then this is TV. Other things that would only happen in a TV drama is when one or more individuals get ready to drop a bomb on proceedings before the first episode is up, just as Alice is still beginning to grieve, but to learn those, you’ll have to watch the episode to see what happens.
As an aside, be aware that sometimes the doorbell rings in this drama… so it’s NOT your doorbell! 😀
There’s also some accidental dark humour when she goes to the hospital morgue to view Harry’s body, presses the buzzer… no-one responds, and she has to press it again, even though it says “Only press once”, plus some other accidental humour when words are blurted out in the heat of the moment.
Plus – and I know it’s a film set – but it is a bit daft that since Alice states she’s so short of cash while the bank sort out all their accounts, they’ve got all the gadgets in the house running away with themselves, plus so many redundant lights left on in the house, especially one under each of every DAMN step in the floating staircase! Come on, writers, you’ll annoy Greta Thunberg! 😉
UPDATE: I’ve now seen the whole series, so will add some episode specific comments below (hidden by spoilers in case you want to avoid them), but for its dark premise, it has a surprisingly witty script. It’s rather silly, but it’s easy going. I got into this more as it went on, so I could go a second series of this. There’s certainly a few loose ends introduced which would be tightened up in a second series, so clearly they’ve been introduced in the hope that comes about.
Before I get to the episode specific stuff, some examples of the wit in this, but I won’t reveal more…
Alice with her parents:
- Sarah: “Your brother could do with some support.”
Roger: “It’s not easy being homosexual.”
Alice (sarcastic): “Oh, I think Dan’s making a good fist of it(!)”
And later, when she’s just with her Dad…
- Alice (mournful): “There are many things Harry won’t get to see… Charlotte as a woman… festooned with children…”
Nigel (unhelpfully, without a hint of irony): “HS2… y’know, the train line.”
Episode 2…
Episode 3…
I’ve not gone into detail about any others, but while this is rather daft as a drama, it’s still engaging.
Finding Alice is on ITV from tonight at 9pm, it will run for six episodes, and the entire series on ITV Hub after episode 1 has been broadcast.
It is available to pre-order on DVD, ahead of its release on April 26th, and is also on Amazon Prime.
Series 1 Score: 7.5/10
Director: Roger Goldby
Producer: Margot Gavan Duffy
Writers/Creators: Roger Goldby, Simon Nye
Music: Edmund Butt
Cast:
Alice: Keeley Hawes
Charlotte: Isabella Pappas
Harry: Jason Merrells
Minnie: Gemma Jones
Gerry: Kenneth Cranham
Sarah: Joanna Lumley
Roger: Nigel Havers
Hospital Receptionist: Olivia Bernstone
Nathan: Rhashan Stone
Yasmina: Dominique Moore
Detective Davis: Matthew Flynn
Detective Prior: Charlyne Francis
Coroner: Jane Shakespeare
Funeral Director: Philip Bird
Nicola: Sharon Rooney
Tanvi: Ayesha Dharker
George: George Webster
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.