I became addicted to Lynda LaPlante after watching Prime Suspect for years! I started buying her books, recently, and was pleased when - after a friend sent me a universal DVD player - that I could see COMMANDER stateside. However, I found it plodding, compared to PRIME SUSPECT and found The Commander's character so maddeningly full of holes, I simply couldn't take it seriously. The killed was so transparently sociopathic, I just couldn't SEE how any powerful woman could have been fooled by him. And the more it seemed she tried to dig herself OUT of the hole she was in, after that ludicrous entrapment scene, the deeper I felt she dug it. If he HADN'T had the good grace to get himself killed in prison, she'd have never managed to extricate herself from that embarrassing mess. Speaking of WHICH, how she could have succumbed to Carol's BOYFRIEND - I mean, we're talking about a powerful smart woman here! She would have NEVER jeopardized her position as COmmander in that way. Sorry, fans - this just didn't do it for me! SHEILA RIMER

Excellent piece of TV. Although Amanda Burton can do no wrong. Riveting, I could not stop watching it. Are you making any more? I sincerely hope so. Th rest of the cast are very good.

Excellent first series which has you gripped throughout and easily on par with any of the US TV dramas that are popular these days. Amanda Burton is a delight and plays this role so well. The real star though is the writer Lynda La Plante who seems to have a midas touch for this type of TV- don't think twice about purchasing it. When is series 2 going to be available?

As a very big fan of the Trial and Retribution series I was keen to watch more work by Lynda La Plante. Unfortunately for me the Commander fell way below the standards of Trial and Retribution. It depends what you look for in a crime series of course, but if you are looking for realism forget the commander. For me the fatal flaw was the central character. How on earth a person so flawed and incompetent would be promoted to such a senior position is beyond me, as is how she would somehow fall for a convicted murderer that she herself had investigated. Also very disappointing was the fact that the series seems to centre heavily on this character and her personal life. If that's what you are after then you'll like this but if you are after fantastically scripted crime drama like Trial and Retribution look elsewhere.

Amanda Burton does a great job as Commander Claire Blake in Lynda La Plante's latest drama "The Commander". The plots are riveting with plenty of unexpected twists, the pace never slackens and Amanda Burton looks gorgeous in a policewoman's uniform.