Radio Times

I'm sure no-one was seriously expecting Bonekickers to be about real archaeology. Personally, I quite like dusty shards of ancient pottery, though even I can see there are not too many thrills to be had from digging up ceramic fragments. But was it too much to hope for some adventure, excitement, suspense - even a little complex characterisation? Or is quality drama now as rare as an unexcavated Egyptian tomb?

The series got off to a very poor start with a group of chain-mail-clad extras clanking about in woodland in semi-darkness. If you've never seen this sequence before, then you've never seen a television drama about the Middle Ages, because this is such a cliché as to make one wonder why the producers reshoot it. It's used as a shorthand for rape, pillage and bloodthirsty deeds in medieval times and comes with a standard soundtrack of voices chorusing, "aaahhhhhhahhhhhaaa". Why not cut a few costs and use some old clips from Cadfael?

But Bonekickers is more than happy to serve up tired old clichés, as if it's cute to be lazy and predictable. There's ubiquitous grumpy team leader Gillian, who is unaccountably rude to young newcomer Vivian. Then there's the politically incorrect old-timer, Professor Gregory Parton, who also picks on Viv by making smutty remarks about her breasts.

You'd think the average 13-year-old would be able to deliver a smart put-down nowadays, but Viv, cast as a dimwit despite her alleged postgraduate qualifications, is bafflingly speechless. So it's down to poor old Adrian Lester to forge a convincing, charismatic character while waxing lyrical about history being "like layers".

Wouldn't Bonekickers be more exciting if the creators really were passionately interested in the enigmatic nature of the past? Their indifference is evident in every detail, from the ludicrously banal dialogue to the contempt with which the actors handle the precious artefacts. Strange objects are set free from the earth and are instantly identified and dated. Yes, this shows how dazzlingly clever Gillian is, but it pretty much destroys any sense of mystery.

Indiana Jones, Tintin and The Da Vinci Code - the armchair adventurers who created these romantic tales of derring-do were clearly fascinated by the spell that objects from the distant past can cast over the imagination.

The starting point for Spielberg, Hergé and Dan Brown is that those dusty shards of pottery hidden in the ground are not just evidence, but clues hinting at dark mysteries and forgotten civilisations, prized as much for what they mean as what they are made from. And they believe these fragments are worth fighting for. But the people who make Bonekickers will never convince me that the stories they have to tell are worth watching, until they convince themselves.

The brilliant Adrian Lester must be kicking himself for getting involved in this crap.

Cliched rubbish, but as escapism, likeable enough. The archaeology was a travesty.

Why does everybody get their knickers in a twist over 'Bonekickers' - it's a bit of harmless nonsense isn't it? If you don't like it watch something else.

I only managed to catch one episode of this show, but I enjoyed it enough to hope that the BBC will ignore the critics and bring it back for a second series.

Most of the people criticising BoneKickers seem to be doing so because they have a preconceived idea of what kind of drama the BBC should be putting on at 9.00 in the evening, ie. something 'serious and challenging', which Bonekickers certainly wasn't. However, if we judge Bonekickers in terms of the kind of programme it was meant to be - to use an old fashioned phrase, an entertaining piece of hokum - then, from what I saw, it fulfilled it's purpose.

Most people who would watch this have an interest in history so surely this should be more complex, surely they should know who they are aiming for. Yes it isn't supposed to be a documentary but it wasn't a Saturday seven o'clock children's robin hood so if it is aimed at adults. Adults not children. Why can't they then have a good interesting plot with real characters not ones so wooden you could snap them? Make realistic plots, have real history. Surely they could have made a good thing of it if they had time team's history but action.

Wasn't meant to be a documentary, "I liked it for what it was" fictional escapism.

It's not very good, is it?

People need to get some perspective.

Bonekickers isn't meant to be taken seriously. That much is obvious.

It isn't supposed to be a documentary nor is it trying to be high-brow theatre.

It's just fun.

Stop taking it so seriously and enjoy it for what it is - entertainment that doesn't have to be thought about too hard.

I'd much rather watch it than any of the soap operas or so-called reality shows.

Each week it gets worse

I wonder why we are forced to have hourly previews of forthcoming programmes, sometimes every hour on the hour, not just on TV but this morning on Radio 3. I am fed up to the teeth with them.

I know it silly but I love it. It isn't meant to educate any more than Dr. Who does. Tt's just pure escapist nonsense and great fun, perfect after a hard day at work. I hope we get a second series.

i agree its badly written, the characters are bad, the stories are bad and the ending did not make sense. On the whole I enjoyed bonekickers, I laughed at the bad bits, but you would all be complaining if the writers tried to cram in loads of facts and it wouldn't be as enjoyable. Give it a rest and stop moaning,I personaly hope for another series but mabey making more sense.

i love archaeology (wanted to be an archaeologist from an early age digging up egyptian tombs) and no, it isn't very factual and is very dippy in places (a lot of places as a matter of fact) but i love it. i work all day, when i come home i watch the news, absorb the serious parts of the days events and then i want to chill out and be entertained, i dont want to be preached at, informed or educated, i can do that at other times but after 9.00 p.m. give me something that doesnt tax my brain. for the same reason i enjoy primeval, torchwood and the palace - all deliriously ludicrous hokum - give me more - bring it on

Have just finished watching the final instalment of Bonekickers purely on the basis of giving anything which Hugh Bonneville appears in, every chance to prove itself. The verdict? Sorry Hugh. Dreadful, cliche driven, excruciating codswallop. I did try..

From the outset, this programme was doomed to be risible nonsense. "Time Team" meets "Primeval" would be a good description! Throw in some one-dimensional characters, some cringeworthy dialogue and some of the worst archaeology imaginable - Gillian handles artefacts like they were children's toys, spins increasingly hypothetical tales as though they could be legitimate theories and shows no thought for the safety of herself, her team or the general public in her insane quests. This could be quite funny if it stopped trying to be a drama series and went full on for laughs.

I have just sat through the latest installment of Bonekickers and have to say it takes the biscuit!! The plot was ridiculous and the end inexplicable. Could someone tell me who the chap in the mask was who disappeared after snapping excaliber in half? Did Gillians Mother die? I still haven't made my mind up whether or not it was supposed to be a comedy?

I don't think it's even good enough to be on CITV let alone ITV. It would have 10 year olds snorting in derision. It's so gratuitously dumb I actually feel insulted by the BBC for suggesting I watch it.

I love Bonekickers, its great! Its not meant to be a documentary and anyone watching it thinking thats what it is obviously is going to be dissapointed! Why can't people just take things for what they are - FUN! Its just an hour to escape from everyday life (lets face it with everything going on surely everyone could do with that now and again). With all the reality TV and programmes invloving choirs and karoke etc etc I think Bonekickers has been a breath of fresh air and MUST come back for another series. I cannot remeber the last programme on TV that I have watched where an hour has just flown by because I have enjoyed watching a programme so much. I love it!

Come on people - it's a bit of fun. If you don't like it turn over - nobody is forcing you to watch it. Some of you lot are as bad as the Top Gear haters...get a life, eh?

Its a TV programme, and much better than all of the reality nonsense we have to put up. So its not accurate, but it is entertaining!

Agree about it being more like ITV productions and would place it in the same bracket as the very wooden "Primeval"

My personal opinion is that I like it, good fun, nothing really serious, so they are changing history, don't we all try to do that. As someone said in their earlier post, if you don't like a programme there is an off switch.

I love Bonekickers, its good fun and a bit of an adventure. All the people givig poor ratings are taking things too seriously its a tv programme not reality. I hope there is a second series! Something different from the usual rubbish on tv!!!!

Come on chaps, it's only a story. I am usually a stickler for accuracy in TV Drama but this should be viewed as Boy's Own stuff, good swashbuckling fun!

Bonekickers is the finest new comedy series on television! I particularly enjoy the subtle references to the great comedies of the past. Surely the Roman secret weapons were a direct link to the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch? The Great War episode with the buried tank could have been a lost "Ripping Yarns" script. Has it been nominated for the Rose d'Or Comedy Award? If not, why not?

I'm amazed at the sets they use, made with sticky back plastic and pva glue I think - very cheap.

I'm amazed at the sets they use, made with sticky back plastic and pva glue I think - very cheap.

The plots are proposterous and the dialogue very unconvincing. I don't think Adrian Lester is a bad actor, but the lines he's given in Bonekickers make him look decidly third rate. He's worth far more than this script.

Yeh ok so it's not historically correct or anything but if you wanted archaeology maybe you need to switch over to C4 or More 4 and watch Time Team with Tony Robinson upto his armpits in mud.

My main annoyance about Bonekickers is that Gillian is like a moodier version of Temperance Brennan in Bones. However it fills my evening and kills of the boredom - also gives me something to talk about to the ladies in the office.

So my suggestion is if you don't like it, change channel, if it's that bad turn off the telly and dig out a history book.

It's nothing like the Crystal Skull/Indiana Jones ideas - and had you watched it you would have realised that it was more important for them to get out alive?!?!?

I agree with every word written. When I saw the trailer I thought we were in for a serial which would intrigue, educate and thrill us with an on-going story of mystery and suspense, I was shocked therefore, to find each episode on a different theme, all of which has been, to date, utter drvel.

Yes - another utter disgrace from the lazy dramaturgs. So bad it could be on ITV. I would so like to believe it didn't start off like this when the original idea got pitched to those who are laughingly called script editors/ execs or whatever. Now what we've got is merely the corpse of a halfway decent idea smothered by the cold dead hands of halfwits.

I absoulutely agree. I tried to watch the first episode, but found it appalling. It was so full of cliches and bad acting, even the characters and their dialogues were a cliche. I haven't been able to watch it again...

Congratulations to the BBC in once more proving they aren't "dumbing down" by producing this show, which would have been better titled "A very poor and brief history of britain for dummies"

I agree entirely. It would have been perfectly possible to make an accessible, entertaining adventure series that still demonstrated a knowledge and respect for archaeology and the past. Instead the producers seem to have pandered to the lowest common denominator on every level. What a wasted opportunity.

I completely agree with all the above comments. If people want to watch a programme thats actually about archaeology they'd be better off watching Time Team. At least they don't feel it necessary to try and blow up the Roman baths in Bath to make History interesting!!

Watched the first episode then consigned the rest to the bin. What a lot of rubbish. Any archaeologist must be creased with laughter at the speed with which they got Carbon dates etc. Total drivel.

Bonekickers is excellent drama and must get a second series! It's very rare for a programme to be so bad it's good, but Bonekickers is the real thing.

Love it!

Yes this series is total rubbish. Archaeology is a serious science, not a lot of sensational nonsense like this. What an insult!

I agree whole heartedly with the comment. Indiana Jones would never have burned the true cross of christ in order to save himself like Gillian did. A poor attempt to jump on the Crystal Skull bandwagon.