Paula, a three-part British-Irish psychological thriller that first premiered in 2017, has returned to BBC iPlayer for the first time in years, and it’s doing pretty well.
The show follows our titular character, a science teacher named Paula, who decides to call time on her affair with her married colleague before having a one-night stand with a mysterious man.
Unfortunately, that man turns out to want more from her than just a one-off, and doesn’t take being rejected well.
BBC
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The show stars Denise Gough, years before she starred in the acclaimed Star Wars spin-off Andor, as well as The English’s Tom Hughes and Killing Eve’s Owen McDonnell.
It didn’t get enough attention from critics to receive a Rotten Tomatoes score, but The Guardian reviewed the first episode and said: “Every scene is dark, claustrophobic and menacing and the whole thing has a slight air of suppressed insanity about it… The parts have all been dragged into place and I look forward to seeing them hopefully crank into full motion.”
What the show does have is ratings from viewers, with over 1,600 user scores leading to an average of 6.7/10 on IMDb, which is pretty decent.
One fan called it “an excellent, tense mini-series” and wrote: “It starts off quite well and has what some may call a dubious ending, but as a whole it’s brilliant. The second episode in particular is loaded with tension, featuring some really nasty moments.
“Denise Gough shows just how good an actress she is as Paula, but it’s the performance of Tom Hughes that impresses the most, proving he’s not just a pretty face.”
BBC
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Another fan wrote: “A movement away from ‘tedious realism’ towards an embracement of the supernatural and elements from old horror movies such as haunting ghosts, rats in basement of your house, and children locked up in a cupboard. It’s all really a bit over the top, but I love it.”
Other fans felt like the show started off strong, but floundered a bit in the final episode.
Paula is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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Joe Anderton is a freelance news writer at Digital Spy, having worked there since 2016. In his time, he’s covered a host of live events and interviewed celebrities big and small. A big fan of TV and movies both mainstream and obscure, Joe also enjoys video games and in particular PlayStation. Joe currently does not use Twitter, but he only ever used it to tell people to watch the film Help! I’m a Fish.