kesakb Teeters on the edge of scientific drama and swashbuckling farce. If the writers had gone convincingly all the way, (think Brendan Fraser's Mummy series) they might have pulled it off. Adding contemperaneous social commentary to the mix muddied the waters since it prevents suspending disbelief.

sweetlildreamer06 I have noticed a lot of harsh reviews for this show, and I think most of them are unfair. I have seen A LOT of movies and T.V shows, some good, some bad, and some so bad they were good. I would put Bonekickers in the good category. I think that maybe he Brits have taken to criticizing this show a lot harshly because it is their country being represented, but sometimes to truly enjoy the concept of a show you have to open your mind and not judge based on your knowledge. I have seen plenty of good T.V shows end after one season because a few people had nothing but nasty things to say about it, and frankly it is not fair to those people who enjoyed it. That being said, every one has the right to their own opinion, but sometimes a bad opinion spoken loudly enough will prevent someone from trying something they otherwise would have enjoyed. Please keep that in mind when writing your reviews.

LouE15 Thank you so much - reading the user reviews here was the funniest half hour I've had in ages – I was weeping with laughter – which is more than I can say for the experience of watching a couple of episodes of the show itself. There's nothing like a truly terrible show to bring out the wit and brilliance in people's writing.I'd love to have agreed with those "so bad it's good" reviewers who enjoyed it like an illicit substance…but I was mostly just dumbstruck. The problems started and ended with the script: this isn't the first show to be made on a shoestring, and the actors really did throw themselves into their parts – but come ON! Maybe those responsible for creating and greenlighting it were on some miraculous substance themselves. Lots of shows have a preposterous premise, dodgy "science", poor story lines and so on and so on – but they don't all end up like this. The scriptwriters should get together with Guy "Revolver" Ritchie and make the World's Most Dreadful Psycho-Drama Ever. I'll be there, weeping.But, oh Adrian Lester, what were you thinking?! – I know, actors have got to eat and all that – but couldn't starvation have been at least a temporary alternative? You're better than this!One final gripe: I've got to take up the reviewer who was disgruntled at the existence of, not one (gasp!), but TWO (GASP!), black archaeologists in this show. I'm getting strange flashbacks here…"55 Degrees North" took hits from cynical reviewers who saw only the PC brigade where they should have seen something better-natured. Gosh, don't you think that it would be pretty great if the presence of two, whole, black archaeologists on this show inspired even ONE budding young non-white 'bonekicker' of the future to alter the racial imbalance in this field - an imbalance this very reviewer admits to?! But of course this isn't what the BBC should be doing, is it? The BBC should be doing nothing but entertain (white) people. Which they've done very effectually for a very long time. Now it's time to reflect the viewers they actually have, even at the expense of so-called "accuracy". So get used to this, quickly: not everyone in Britain is like you: perhaps the stultifying world of archaeology needs just this reminder – from the BBC, no less – of its own long overdue obligation to seek a wider academic spread and fanbase.I'm off to think about how this show could have been any worse. Perhaps if Worzel Gummidge were in it...no wait - a song & dance sequence!

Anti-bonekicker Okay, I'm a professional and not an academic, but even so. I've managed to avoid this series up until now, but last night featured the Roman Baths Museum and I had to watch it for the background. Pity the actors got in the way..... Not going to comment on the archaeology side (yeah I know it's fiction) but the whole thing was just nuts. And not in a good way either. I could have assembled a better plot from an Ikea flat-pack and the dialogue sounded like they'd shredded the script and picked up random lines off the floor. And the big surprise at the end? - anyone not get it before the programme was half over? And in answer to cake-26, I know of a few black archaeologists and worked with people from various ethnicities when doing work with the public, so the presence of Adrian Lester and Gugu Mbatha-Raw is valid but they are so under-drawn as characters as to be 2-dimensional. Hugh Bonneville played his part as if he was half-cut and I really wished I was too.