Found this one on Netflix (haha! funny I know), and gave it whirl. Good stuff from BBC, once again.
Couple of observations:
(1) I was first stricken with the impression that the American show
Terra Nova was our version of this exact show. Different details, same concept. Earth is dying/destroyed? Check. Humans need a place to live again? Check. Specially selected groups of brilliant people/lotteried people get to go to the "new eden?" Check. Loved ones get left behind (with all the attendant survivor guilt/anger run amok?) Check. The groups of people go in cascaded groups over a set period of time (e.g. The 5th Pilgrimage/The CT-9 transport?) Check. There are "Others" fighting the colonists, likened unto the
LOST tv show? Check. There are subversives about furthering a dangerous possible takeover plot from the dying Earth? Check. etc....etc....
And the jury is in, people - Outcasts, the predecessor show from 2010,
far outshines Terra Nova, in just about every detail. The character studies are far more cerebral and interesting, and they dont belabor the family/children aspect. While they do visit family issues - its not quite as maudlin.
(2) The show attempts (too hard, I think) to be of Battlestar Galactica quality (complete with a pale version of BSG's intensifying drumbeat promos), and horribly fails. Few shows can or probably ever will top BSG in terms of their brilliantly layered individual character drama, societal/civil drama, and political drama. Forget the fact that Jamie Bamber was in the first episode - while watching the show, I was able to select specific characters most likely created as models from BSG. The show could've pulled it off, if not for the fact that it kept the supporting cast too small. At some point, the issues became myopic, and there were a lot of times where you have to suspend disbelief at basic practical things like: why is it that there appear to be only two police officers to police 70K people? EVER? Surely the police force is larger than this? Why is it that only 2 people from Earth are capable of governmental administration in a pool of 70k? Oh, and those 2 people are also the top scientists, who also double as the leading minds of all things scientific - so while perform the mundane task of running the colony, they also simultaneously apply their considerable brainpower to scientific study. REALLY? I dont care how brilliant you are, there are only 24 hours in a day and no one human being is capable of doing everything. Jack of all trades, master of none. Epic fail. Why is it that when they've separated the police powers whereby the XP soliders monitor outside of the wall, and the PAS force monitors inside of the wall - how come the show is written to where the XPs seem to know little to nothing about their domain (outside the wall), and/or have no real expertise about it? What's worse, the folks inside the wall often take their own counsel about what to do outside the wall, and and suffer no consequences for doing so. In this way, it makes the XP portion of the show openly appear to be a foil for the PAS/inside folks, and generally unnecessary for the show, save for when the writers want to further the plot without having to come up with a legitimate reason. Weak writing, and it is sharply incongruous with the supposed advanced science, philosophy and cerebral portions of the show.
I think this has been canceled, and with the writing, I understand why. The show cant decide if it wants to go for a stupid audience, or a smart audience - and it cant have both. If you can get past that, its actually FAR better than Terra Nova, and worth a watch for fans of the genre.