This series starts off very well, then slowly winds down to a relatively boring and predictable 'normality' after the first two episodes. One thing this series has going for itself is excellent acting throughout, but especially Mark Strong is utterly believable and chilling as Harry Starks. This is one of the best performances I have ever seen for a TV series, well done!I have not read the book, but I believe more could have been extracted from it, and a longer (and better) mini series could have emerged as a result. In any case, not a bad 4-episode novel adaptation, initially very original and innovative, but just don't expect too much overall.

BBC2's The Long Firm, starring "Our friends In the North" actor Mark Strong, was full of suspense, humour and tension. Lena Headey, Derek Jacobi and Joe Absolom provide a strong supporting cast, but it is Strong in the role of 60s Mob boss Harry Starks which steals the show. Harry is an East-End, working-class, homosexual, Jewish mobster, who is striving for acceptance in London. Based on Jake Arnott's book of the same name the dramatisation has been true to the original version and leading cast members met up with Arnott several times on set to discus their characters and the story. This is obvious because it's brilliant. Definitely worth watching. A well-acted, well-scripted, well-directed production.

The BBC rest on their past reputation . There's little good I can say about the BBC in the 21st century as they force feed us TV dinners of quiz shows , hidden camera shows and DIY shows , recipes that leave TV critics like myself under nourished . But my compliments to whatever TV chef cooked up THE LONG FORM for our televisual delight Mark Strong plays Harry Starks a homosexual gangster in 1960s London .Episode 1 ) Harry and his new boyfriend travel to Nigeria to pull off a scamEpisode 2 ) Harry tries to set up a club while his new boyfriend Tommy has a sexual relationship with starlet Ruby Ryder Episode 3 ) A rent boy is found murdered and mutilated so Harry tries to track down his killers Episode 4 ) Newly released from prison Harry tries to start a new life in Spain with a limp wristed criminologistThat's the premise of each episode but it's impossible to describe how well they play out on screen . For much of the episode Harry is off centre and it's the supporting characters that carry the audience through the story . It also has a wonderful sense of dark humour like the bit where an obviously stoned Judy Garland tries to sing only to have the club goers pelt and boo her , or the scene where Harry is described as a deviant by a criminologist : " Deviant ? Deviant ! - Calling me a f***in' nonce ! "This show has you laughing out loud one minute and curling your toes the next with some graphic violence because there's nothing Harry enjoys more than tying someone up in a chair and inflicting violence on them usually with a white hot objectThere's little negative I can say about THE LONG FIRM . I could be pedantic and point out small errors like the episode set in 1967 has a clip from a DOCTOR WHO story from 1968 but that would be cruel . The ending is slightly disappointing but nothing is perfect and expect this show to pick up a major amount of awards at next years BAFTA's And if the BBC can produce drama of this quality then why do we have to put up with a unfufilling TV diet of garbage ? The BBC can still make classic drama when it wants to . I guess they just don't want to

A fascinating four-parter, centred on London gangland boss Harry Starks, and starting in the 1960s. The episodes are uneven, and occasionally implausible, but the series is made unmissable by the looming presence of Mark Strong. He is more than a scary thug, though he is terrifying in that role. At times he is stoical, and even tender, so that you can even feel sorry for him. He is countered by Derek Jacobi as a corrupt peer, drawn into Harry's half-baked schemes, with a splendid cameo by Phil Daniels as pathetic drug-dealer.The London and Essex settings are excellent, capturing perfectly the glamour and seediness of '60s clubland. When Harry goes further afield, to Nigeria and then Spain, it is a lot less convincing. But overall a great series, well worth looking out for.