Bedlam - Review of Series 2, Episode 1

This was our first experience of Bedlam as we missed series 1 but it didn’t take us long to catch up. 

Our first, and over-riding impression of Bedlam is that it felt very teeny, a sort of ‘Nightmare on Hollyoaks’ which is probably why Lacey Turner was cast for the role of Ellie in the second series of this Sky Living drama. As a popular former teenage actress from Eastenders we think she will more than likely bring a lot of viewers with her. Turner's portrayal of the frightened and confused Ellie was actually very believable and was probably the best thing about the show.

We are not sure if it was the writer's intention but none of the other characters were particularly likeable. The two housemates Dan and Max were very wooden and badly acted giving neither any redeeming qualities.

Hugo Speer's character, Warren, the owner of Bedlam Heights and his daughter Kate had conflicting views on what to do with the building but we didn't really like either character enough to care. This may well have come from the fact that we haven’t seen the first series but it feels as though both characters are there to lend some weak background to keeping Bedlam Heights, a refurbished mental hospital.

So far this might all seem quite negative but we did jump a couple of times and the show actually offers a great deal of potential. It is well shot and has a quality feel but unfortunately you feel like you’ve seen it all before.

The whole episode was full of clichés and in particular when Turner's character, Ellie, grabs a torch and decides to search around a creepy old building in the middle of the night we were literally shouting at the TV - while hiding behind our cushion of course!

We can only really describe Bedlam as okay, there was nothing especially wrong with it and if you're after horror ‘light’ then this is for you. We don't think we'll be tuning in next week but to be fair, we are not their target market.