On TV: Tuesday 24th April 2012
Channel: BBC One 9pm
Episode Type: 5/5
In 1 Sentence: A shocking and moving conclusion to what has been a fantastic drama...
BBC Summary: Five-part drama by Kay Mellor, following five supermarket workers whose lives are turned upside down when they jointly win the lottery.
Ep5: Jamie thinks he is untouchable now he has money, but the police are convinced he is involved in the robbery. Jamie tries to live his dream, but his old life refuses to stay in the past. When the local drug dealer, Boss, pays Jamie a visit, he is forced to go head-to-head with him with dramatic consequences.
Leanne's court case in Wales is imminent, and Stuart is torn between his life with Amy and Leanne, who he is desperate to support. The lottery gets in touch with the syndicate to find out how their lives have changed. Meanwhile, Bob's surgery looms and he says his goodbyes to those he loves.
My Review: It’s with sadness that I watched the last episode of The Syndicate last night as a quality drama such as this doesn’t roll around that often. While short (with only 5 episodes) every single episode has been outstanding which would be due to the compelling storylines and fantastic acting. Each of the five leads have some fine experience behind them - the Harry Potter films, Misfits, Gavin and Stacey etc and so it was no surprise that they were each outstanding. The characters were amazingly well formed and leaves you with a distinct impression of who they were and their lives long after the series - no wonder so many have fallen in love with them! And unlike many dramas that I shan’t mention they each played true to the characters personalities right until the very end. While winning the lottery obviously had a big effect on their lives they didn’t completely change and if anything, like Stuart said, it was the people around them that changed - not them.
This brings me to Jamie which was the last character to be focused on. It was interesting to see how his life before winning was interwoven with some of the scenes we saw in the first episode. We see how much trouble he was in and what drove him to steal from the shop. Seeing him get closer to Amy (Stuart’s, his brother’s, fiancee) may not have been surprising but we definitely got to know him more throughout the episode and I ended up feeling quite sorry for him. Which made the ending all the more moving! It may have been coming for him but it was emotional all the same - especially for Stuart. It was a beautiful ending and nicely shot - that and the scenes set in South Africa as Bob and Annie finally married before he went into surgery. The ending for their storyline may have been predictable but it was lovely all the same and meant it wasn’t all doom and gloom!
As I said before, I really don’t want The Syndicate to end! It’s been a gripping series and it deserves all the attention it gets.
Score: 9/10
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