Ann

This was excellent. After viewing Dark Season first, I had steeled myself to more interesting but flawed and childish TV. Instead I was astounded by the programme's quality. So much so that I immediately borrowed the rest of the series and watched it that night, complete with introductions from Andi Peters and Ed the Duck.

It was pretty dark and complex stuff for a children's programme - tackling loneliness, infant death and xenophobia almost incidentally whilst working to a very subtle conclusion. As I understood it, the moral is that the ultimate evils are created out of man's frustrated desires, only defeatable by a faith in the future that needs strength to hold on to. Strong stuff, but these eternal themes are explored with such lightness here that you hardly even notice being given so much to think about.

Catherine Sanderson as Tess Harker is superb - a child actor who could really act. And once again, Russell T Davies holds out hope for fat lonely kids everywhere by suggesting that it might be they who have the insight needed to save the world. As an ex-fat lonely kid, I wholeheartedly approve - but I do think it would be highly illuminating to see a picture of Russell when he was, say, 12 or 13.

James

Century Falls isn't normal. It starts abruptly, and makes no storytelling concessions: how refreshing to have kids silently accepting the supernatural rather than tiresome "It's true! Every word of it's true!" scenes.

It's also gloriously filmed - the empty streets of Century itself look as beautiful as they do bleak - and some of the simple locations are hauntingly shot (as the cast fade seamlessly between two versions of the same set - one a burnt-out ruin, the other a gloomy temple).

The special effects are spooky, clever, and not at all showy - how lucky we are this was made before CGI. The scaring is left up to the music and the direction and both do a great job.

It's also strange - but good - that a kids' TV show spends so much time with the squabbles of the pensioner cast members. It does mean that we get three hours of television about magnificently batty women. And that's never a bad thing.

Dan

Century Falls is quite frankly just too good for kids. While Dark Season seems laboured and sometimes silly, this slice of 90s telefantasy subtly handles meaty subjects as infant death, the loneliness of teenage years and the power of hope - told in a well-paced, tension-packed six episodes all featuring fine performances and direction.

Mind you, I'm a sucker for aged actresses given a gig, fiery flashback sequences and stirring music. If Russell T Davies writes Doctor Who as well as this and pitches it firmly at intelligent 14 year olds, I'll be a happy viewer.