Archie (TV Mini Series) Episode #1.1 (2023) User Reviews

North by north west Bristol

[xmasdaybaby1966 · 8/10 · 23 November 2023]

An interesting topic for a short series and well presented despite some ropey accents at times but the story sees things through.

Biopics are always tricky and there are a few doubtful moments where the actors seem more as obvious than the characters (Jason Watkins, Ian McNeice for example).

Jason Isaacs depicts the Cary Grant which we know of well even if the tan makes him look more like Bob Monkhouse than the Hollywood star at times, here showing he is enamoured by Diane Canon despite still being married.

The hardship of yous early life shows the knocks which made him stronger through rejection.

A good watch.

A wonderful start to the series.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 24 November 2023]

The fascinating story of young Archie Leech, who would grow up to be film star and Hollywood legend Cary Grant.

It's a particularly good start to this four part series, I was hoping for it to be good, I wasn't expecting it to be quite this good. I thought this was an excellent first episode, a fascinating story, amazing visuals, and some awesome acting.

Jason Isaacs, what a superb performance. I can't wait to see where he takes this.

The writing is top notch, I had worried that it was going to be difficult to follow, as it does jump about a bit, but it all makes sense, the pieces begin falling together, to give you a picture of the man, everything that happened to shape him.

The North by Northwest sequence was terrific, superb, Ian McNeice was excellent as Hitchcock, nice to see his career still thriving, he recently appeared in Napoleon.

A great start.

9/10.

Fractured Fairy Tale

[jaigurudavid · 4/10 · 11 December 2023]

Slow and disjointed. Factually inaccurate. I am only a passing fan of Cary Grant, and the first episode did nothing to further my interest. I'm also not a fan of background music that is obviously anachronistic to the period.

The acting is okay, nothing special. They did a pretty good job of matching the characters to actors that bear at least a passing resemblance. Grant comes off as an old, lecherous has-been in most of the scenes. This may be accurate but it does nothing to ingratiate the audience to the character of the historical person. Overall, I found little of interest and much to my annoyance.