Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

ianlouisiana I don't think anyone could take "The Palace" seriously either as an endorsement or repudiation of Britain's monarchical heritage,but it's certainly jolly good fun and gave everybody a nice break in Lithuania. These aren't the Windsors of course,there's not enough implacable undying animosity and power - crazed egomania on display to even approach our own dear Royal Family,but it's spiffing behind - the -doors stuff that might make one think that there was some inside knowledge obliquely revealed. There's something almost Shakespearian about the plot concerning the sudden death of a king and the manoeuvering of his successors and their various factions in the power vacuum that it causes. But nobody ends up mincemeat - as Cole Porter neatly put it,merely thwarted and retired snarling. None more so that the imperious Miss S.Winkelman,every inch the unregenerate aristo as the oldest child who has the misfortune to be of the wrong gender( a law since removed from the statute books in order to bring the monarchy more in line with the 19th century.) She has the intelligence and beauty to dominate every scene where she appears,and has quite rightly subsequently found her place in Society with a capital "S" by marrying an amiable and unambitious Royal of her own. The other outstanding performance is that of Miss Z.Telfer as the new King's P.A. over whom he exercises the droit de seigneur rather hastily and lives to regret it. "The Palace" isn't great drama but it is great entertainment particularly to those of us who have watched the lives of our Royals lived on the front pages for sixty - odd years with wry amusement and resignation. Life may not always imitate art - but it should perhaps in the case of "The Palace".

bj00002 I personally think it was a gripping drama. It was realistic enough for me and I really found myself hoping for the Richard/Abi storyline to develop. It is very hard to come up with new ideas, everything always gets called "a new ... " or that is copying another idea. I found The Palace a good show, that i watched every Monday, and I for one, hope there is a second series!! Anybody who thinks it is rubbish, probably isn't the sort of person who enjoys romantic dramas, and well, i think it is their fault for watching it! The Palace is exactly what is says on the tin...and it was done well! Who cares if some of it was similar to the West Wing...it was done with the British twist and that can only be good. As can ITV finally coming up with interesting dramas to rival the BBC (mistressess etc)

paul2001sw-1 'The Palace' is a series that takes place in a fictionalised royal family not so unlike our own; a young king thrown unexpectedly to the throne and who resembles George VI; his sister is a ringer for Princess Margaret, and there are a batch of partying young royals to boot. An ensemble cast also features many of the palace staff, and the tone of the program is somewhere between 'Drop the Dead Donkey' and 'House of Cards', as it follows the ambitions and intrigue surrounding this substantial collection of characters. It's all believable stuff, yet somehow not very interesting: the comedy element is obvious and just not that funny, while the more serious side of the drama fails to engage, the royal family has already lost so much of its mystique that it's hard to feel anything real is at stake in the political games. Stepehen Frears' film 'The Queen', another obvious template, was such fun because of the way it imaginatively interpreted real events and people; but in 'The Palace', none of the made-up royals have sufficient depth to flesh out the plot beyond a skeleton outline. In the end, it's neither subversive or revealing, and fails to contain anything that might not have been predicted; neither true sitcom not true satire, 'The Palace' aims high but ultimately, appears to have nothing of substance to say.

damonreynolds Okay, so a certain amount of belief has to be suspended to enjoy this, but that doesn't mean it's not good TV. There seem to be far too many comparisons to the West Wing. The Palace is basically a tongue-in-cheek dramatisation of a whole bunch of 'what-ifs'. And, if you can get over the initial premise and look a little deeper, there are quite a number of points here about male succession, the spilt between crown and parliament, staff loyalty, the duty of monarchy and so on. This has not just been thrown together - in fact by making all the characters fictional the writers have much greater license to look at and expose some of the more interesting facets of the UK constitution.The main problem is that it falls between two stools. It's too silly for a Royalist drama, and not quite biting enough for black comedy. It would actually be much better off on Channel 4. ITV doesn't have much of a history of 'faintly subversive' so doesn't know what to do with it, and the critics don't know what to make of it.