Sarita Rafferty
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
Fleur
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
rosedestler
I was looking forward to this after all the hype and I must say, I was glad I watched it at the beginning, however, with part two I started to get confused. The main story is straightforward, young Ruth being forced to move from her beloved city flat to a cottage in the country right next door to her in-laws after falling pregnant. Postnatal depression causing problems as she struggles to bond with her son as her mother-in-law constantly tries to take over the care of her grandson and convince Ruth that not only is she an unfit mother she is an unfit wife. The first episode was gripping, the sympathy I felt for Ruth drew me in and made me anxious to see how it would play out and also wondering, "Is the mother-in-law really so obsessive and crazy or is it all in Ruth's head?" It left me looking forward to part two and really wanting someone to get her comeuppance, unfortunately it was disappointing. Apart from the fact the second part seemed to throw in a bunch of sub-plots that had no relevance at all and didn't move the story along, I didn't quite get the ending. Did she fall or did Ruth finally snap and push her? While I'm glad the mother-in-law died it was a bit of a cop-out ending and I'm not even sure what happened. While worth a watch and starts off well, the second half really let me down. I'm hoping that the book will be better, as is so often the case
TheLittleSongbird
Not much to add to what has been said already. Coming from someone who has not read the book, The Little House could have been better than it turned out to be but it had a lot of things that were really good. Lets start with those good things first, first and foremost Francesca Annis, who steals the show in the mother-in-law-from-hell role that has been seen many times before but rarely as chillingly as with Annis. In fact all the performances were very good and the chemistry is all believable, credit also should go to Lucy Griffith who was immensely likable as The Little House's most relatable character. The Little House looks great, very skilfully shot and the house is like a character of its own and suits the nature of the story very well. John Lunn's music is both charming and eerie while also being unobtrusive, the dialogue is snappy and also gives the right amount of foreboding, most of the direction is good and the characters in the first half are well written. The first half of The Little House is brilliant, the atmosphere is genuinely unsettling, everything's coherent and you at least know who the characters are and their motivations. The second half doesn't quite match up, the performances and atmosphere just about keep things afloat but it did feel rushed(I agree another episode or two would have helped) and ideas are introduced right out of the blue and are rarely fully explored. The ending is also agreed incredibly underwhelming, it could have been clever and creepy and was neither, instead it feels like an anti-climax and that it belongs somewhere else. Almost like the writers were not sure how to end it and just tacked one on. All in all, has a lot of good things, in the case of the acting and the first half great, but the rushed and underdeveloped second half and the ending make The Little House also uneven. 6/10 Bethany Cox
ianlouisiana
The beautiful Miss Lucy Griffiths is the only reason for watching this weary exposition of one of T.V.'s favourite themes - two strong women in conflict over two weak men. Miss Francesca Annnis - looking scarily like Cherie Blair - is made up like a pantomime dame and about as convincing as the loopy mother - in - law.Used to dominating her husband and son,she initially finds her daughter - in - law equally submissive,but,as they clash over her obsession with controlling her son and grandson,she finds the tables turned. For no good reason that I could make out there were unresolved sub - plots about a fatal car crash,an absent sister,a work colleague with a crush on Miss Griffiths and a mysterious figure skulking in the woods. Halfway through the first episode we are told Miss Griffiths is in fact American by birth - a complete irrelevance. At the end it appears that Miss Griffiths has in fact turned into her mother - in - law. The scene where Miss Annis sniffs the sheets on which her son had just made love to his wife made me laugh more than watching Michael McIntyre's entire output. And another thing...having been trailered by ITV so assiduously for so long before its transmission,I felt that I had seen most of the relevant parts of "The Little House" many times before. Perhaps if it had been sprung upon me cold - as it were - it wouldn't have been such a disappointment.
j-cameron22
This was aired in the UK in November 2010 in two parts on ITV to great hype. The story concerns a woman who moves in with her new husband after unexpectedly falling pregnant. The couple initially move in with her husband's parents, Annis' creepy mother and her meek, doting hubby. The first part is extremely creepy, well written and acted by all and very believable. The plot concerns the mother-in-law's seemingly unhealthy fixation on her new grandson. Does she have a secret agenda or is it all in the mind of our young protagonist, the baby's mother? The paranoid tension is sustained throughout the first episode and we are left gagging to find out what happens next. Unfortunately, the second part doesn't do so well. Sub-plots are tantalisingly introduced and promptly dropped, e.g. a long-distance call from the grandparent's estranged daughter, the main character's mysterious background involving a car-crash and her missing parents, the main character's friend and confidant (who has feelings for her) and who it turns out has nothing to do with the story, and the grand-father who has a bewilderingly unexplained out-of-character change of heart toward the end. Worst of all though is a deeply unsatisfying and unbelievable cop-out of an ending that seems to have been made up on the spot. Perhaps they should have stretched the plot out to three episodes to allow the story to breathe and the plot threads to be resolved. Overall, an exciting drama but one I'd have reservations in recommending due to the silly ending
