"Episode 1" is the first episode of British

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...

The Casual Vacancy ''The Casual Vacancy'' is a 2012 novel written by J. K. Rowling. The book was published worldwide by the Little, Brown Book Group on 27 September 2012. A paperback edition was released on 23 July 2013. It was Rowling's first publication since ...

'' based on the novel of the same title by

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( "rolling"; born 31 July 1965), also known by her pen name J. K. Rowling, is a British author and Philanthropy, philanthropist. She wrote ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume children's fantasy series published from 1997 to ...

Plot

The village of Pagford is left in shock when a local resident dies suddenly. Pagford is seemingly an English idyll, but what lies behind the pretty facade is a community at war. The empty seat left on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest battle the village has yet seen.

Reception

Upon airing on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

the episode received 6.6 million overnight viewers equating to a 27.5% share of the total television audience. The episode received positive reviews from critics. Cameron K McEwan of ''

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...

'' said that it was "a cracking first instalment... ith the episode boundingbetween morality and message, beauty and reality, in a picturesque postcard style that engages the heart and mind with a perfect cast and biting script." Ellen E Jones of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' the episode, and commended the episode, and noted that it did "better than either

Broadchurch ''Broadchurch'' is a British crime drama television series broadcast on ITV for three series between 2013 and 2017. It was created by Chris Chibnall, who acted as an executive producer and wrote all 24 episodes and produced by Kudos in assoc ...

or Fortitude at wrangling a large ensemble into a coherent story." She also praised the ensemble cast, in particular

Abigail Lawrie Abigail Lawrie (born 1997) is a Scottish actress. She won a Scottish BAFTA for her performance in the Sky Atlantic crime drama '' Tin Star'' (2017–2020). Lawrie made her screen debut in the BBC miniseries ''The Casual Vacancy'' (2015). Early l ...

, and the director of the episode

Jonny Campbell Jonny Campbell is a British director. Biography Campbell studied French and German at Durham University and began his career at Granada TV working on documentaries. He soon moved into drama. Selected filmography Film * ''Alien Autopsy'' (2006) ...

. Stuart Jeffries of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' also had praise for Lawrie who played "Krystal as hard as nails and as brittle as pressed flowers." Overall he called the opening instalment of the

"nicely done". Gerard O'Donovan of ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' gave the episode 4 out of 5 stars, despite some reservations about the digressions, saying:

Grace Dent Grace Dent (born 3 October 1973) is an English columnist, broadcaster and author. She is a restaurant critic for ''The Guardian'' and from 2011 to 2017 wrote a restaurant column for the ''Evening Standard''. She is a regular critic on the BBC' ...

of ''

'' postulated that "it was odd to read reports that the show was attacking the middle classes and glorifying 'the noble savage'. It was glaringly clear, to me at least, from Phelps’ script that while Michael Gambon’s character Howard Mollison was indeed a terrible snob, we could hardly disagree that the 'feral' kids wiping bogeys down his deli window were spoiling village ambience. These were difficult notions of 'village life' – the junkies, the domestic abusers, the shark-like property developers, the upwardly mobiles, ndthe downwardly spiralling". She summarised that "It must be quite exhausting to feel... lost in a righteous lather over how closet communists t the BBCare frittering away your 40p a day."

References

External links

* {{IMDb episode, 3784250, Episode 1 2015 British television episodes The Casual Vacancy (miniseries) episodes