Jack Thornes Falling Panned, Keeley Hawes Shines

Adolescence writer Jack Thorne's new religious romance drama Falling has been widely panned by critics, who say 'you'll find more lust in an episode of Father Brown'. 

The six-part series launched on Tuesday night, with much hype due to its stellar cast and a writer who swept the award season board with his drama, Adolescence. 

But the show was blasted as a 'god awful mess' and gained measly two star reviews for its slow pacing and 'forced' romance - despite Keeley Hawes being praised for her tender performance. 

The show centres around a devoted nun () and a priest (Paapa Essiedu) who fall in love. 

Early reviews have come in and critics aren't as impressed by writer Jack's first attempt at a love story after moving away from his usual 'gritty social realism'. 

The Guardian's critic Lucy Mangan gave a measly two-stars and described it as a 'god awful mess', with 'odd' dialogue. 

She wrote: 'This tale of a nun and a priest’s forbidden romance has a stellar cast, but it’s odd from the very start – largely because Paapa Essiedu and Keeley Hawes don’t speak or act like adult human beings. 

'I don’t know whether Thorne, who has of course made his name through heavy, state-of-the-nation pieces such as the This Is England trilogy, and dramas about such meaty subjects as disability rights, the pandemic and (most recently, in the much-feted Adolescence) misogyny and the manosphere, felt unsure of his emotional ground or the lives of religious devotees, but rarely does a moment of their relationship ring true. 

'Sometimes, the derivative nature of what we are watching alienates us. Anna and David’s first touch happens when she burns herself while cooking for him, and he helps her run her hand under a tap. This is apparently enough for her to abandon the convent, catch the bus to his church and confess her love for him.' 

The Telegraph's critic Anita Singh also only awarded the show two out of five stars and blasted it as 'boring' and 'passionless'. 

She wrote: 'It could have been The Thorn Birds meets Black Narcissus with a dash of Fleabag. Alas, this drama from Adolescence writer Jack Thorne isn’t sexy or thrilling – or even very dramatic. It features good performances from its likeable lead actors, but their romantic relationship is desperately unconvincing.

'Both Essiedu and Hawes navigate their roles with delicacy and compassion, and their early scenes together are very watchable. Essiedu is 35 and looks older, and Hawes is 50 and looks younger, so the age gap isn’t a thing. Yet there is no chemistry between them, and David doesn’t seem remotely interested in her romantically, so when (spoiler alert) he eventually announces that he loves her back, it strikes a false note.

'"The lusty nun – what a thing to be," Anna says towards the end. I hope they don’t make that the tagline. You’ll find more lust in an episode of Father Brown.'

However, The Times gave it a glowing five star review.

Critic Ben Dowell described it as 'spellbinding' and 'mature' and said Keeley is 'exceptional'. 

He wrote: 'Thorne's writing is spare and his confidence in his performers is more than justified, with Hawes and Essiedu steadily shedding layers of their characters' skin. 

'Throughout the series both characters develop inner strength through immense challenges, their story becomes an anxious but ultimately delirious war, a tussle, in essence, between divine and romantic love as well as the tension between two types of fall.

'There is the biblical one, of course, but also those wonderfully giddy feelings that envelop anyone plunging helplessly and completely in love. It’s spellbinding. Thorne has done it again.' 

The Radio Times awarded four stars and hailed it as a 'witty, moving and contemporary' look at faith and forbidden love.  

Keeley, 50, said when she discovered the show was written by Adolescence writer Jack, participating was a 'no-brainer' - even before she had read the script.

She told Grazia: 'That was a no-brainer before I'd even read the script. 

'Unbelievably for someone who's so prolific, he'd never written a love story before. I thought the story was absolutely beautiful.'

She said it was also a 'freeing' experience to film a show entirely in a robe. 

The actress admitted: 'It felt a bit like a costume drama, partly because we were wearing robes.

'They were actually very freeing. It's quite a lovely thing to forget about anything to do with vanity. There's no vanity in [Sister] Anna.'