I would have rated higher if it wasn't for the ending. I did really enjoy this series but the ending was disappointing. Why do all films and tv programs these days have to have dubious endings where you have to guess what is actually going to happen instead of just rounding off the story? Back in the 80's or 90's this didn't happen the story reached a conclusion. Oh and Sarah Lancashire is brilliant and was not in the story enough for me.

If Sarah Lancashire is in something I make a point of watching it, never saw her in Corrie though. I was okay with this one until the last episode. The CPS would never have runwith a case based on the flimsey evidence that the foster mother had seen a car like the one driven by Kiri's father hanging around their house. I mean she didn't even have a number plate. Other than the disappointing ending, I enjoyed it.

With reference to a previous reviewer jbad language is part of our lives and in these emotional situations they would have been used liberally so to. There is usually a warning prior to these programes starting so if it offends thee, swithch off and leave those of us who don't care to watch in peace.

As soon as I realised that Sarah Lancashire was a central character in this new production, I knew it was going to be good. Sarah, in her role as a human services case-manage working largely with young people and adoptive families (and possibly troubled families in general, we shall see) just eats it up, as usual and gives us a diamond character, in the rough of course. Some might believe she's been typecast and although there may be some similarity here to her role as a weary and wary copper in Happy Valley, it is only in her ability to portray courage, compassion with human foible so well; the characters are very different people. 'Miriam' is not tough and hard here like 'Catherine' is., though definitely exudes the personality of an experienced, down to earth woman. It's early days but we are introduced to a woman who seems almost happy-go-lucky way. Much more light-hearted and humoured in her approach. It becomes clear early on though that this may be a necessary facade to cope with previous tragedy in her life. And alas, it now seems she is to be the scapegoat for a terrible tragedy she could not foresee occurring with a child she is case manager for. But herein lies the mystery and the drama; perhaps we may see sides of Miriam which will lead us to question this 'diamond'. And question all involved in the life of the young girl at the centre of the tragedy, including the involvement of 'the system' as her 'warden of care'. So far, there are believable and sterling performances by all. I am also quite impressed with standouts Lucian Msamati and Claire Rushbrook. Perhaps the only weakness I personally see (others may not) revolve around the central adoptive family who seem a little too good to be true juxtaposed to what I feel is a rather callous disregard for their adopted child's family of origin. That is a flimsy observation on my behalf at this stage. It's only one episode for me thus far, after all. So I await eagerly the thick to plotten...

There's nothing but a vague, unresolved ending. Nothing more to say but I had to keep typing because my review was too short.

This work hits a lot of hot spots and in a subtle and thoughtful meander takes us over a lot of ground. All of it, I think, is worthwhile. Stunning understated performances by both Finn Bennett and Sarah Lancashire. Wow.

Over-written, over-contrived, overacted and over-wrought, this would-be realistic drama fell over itself at every turn. It started out as a whodunit concerning the disappearance and as it turns out death of a young girl of African origin, the Kiri of the title. Brought up in foster care by a middle class white family, she's encouraged by an experienced care worker to meet up with her black father at her grandparents when things go wrong.

I suppose when see you names like Sarah Lancashire and Steven MacKintosh in the credits you know it's not going be a straightforward mystery and you can bet there'll be a fair bit of scenery - chewing actory moments for the so-serious cast to get their teeth into and sure enough there are bite marks everywhere as they each gets scenes of doubt, confusion, anger and despair to try to impress the BAFTA judges.

I wasn't impressed at all. The characters didn't ever sound like "ordinary everyday folk" caught up in a tragedy, with all sorts of unnatural conversations going on amongst them pretty much all the time. Plus, there are scenes of embarrassing weirdness none more so than when the troubled teenager son of the foster family confronts his mother over her affair with the school janitor where she works by walking in on her having a shower and having his tete-a-tete with her standing dripping naked in front of him. Later he has a strange, metaphysical conversation with Lancashire's hard-working, working-class care worker whose original encouragement of the meeting between natural father and daughter precipitated the tragedy before his big underwhelming confrontation with his own dad, MacKintosh.

Throw in an unsatisfactory miscarriage-of-justice ending and there really was very little to commend this mini-series. I came away not liking anyone in the whole four - part series apart from the doomed little girl and she was hardly in it anyway.

This much-hyped programme proved to be a real let-down and is one box-set best left on the shelf, in my opinion.

.....they are all despised by the the Tabloid Press and a large percentage of its readers. As a result of several tragic high - profile cases in recent years,local government Childrens' Services have been vilified and individual Social Workers hounded out of their jobs and the sterling work that most of them do it is conveniently forgotten. "Kiri" starts off with a compassionate and well - meaning social worker making the decision to allow a young black girl about to be adopted by white parents visit her blood grandparents. When the child fails to return home and is rather quickly found murdered,Miriam (Miss S.Lancashire ,convincing dowdy - down but not out;hanging in there) is hung out to dry by her superiors,all keen to distance themselves from her. "99% of the time you're a brilliant social worker...." her boss says as she spears her in the back. Sporting a convincing Bristol accent,Miss Lancashire has no trouble sweeping "Kiri" along in her wake.Not since "Happy Valley" has British TV presented a female character so dominating. In this first episode most of the other characters are hastily sketched,leaving Miriam alone to be fleshed out as a real human being. This may change as the series continues,but right now we are looking at yet another triumph,another award - winning role for one of our best T.V actresses. She is in danger of giving Social Workers a good name.

I've come to really like BBC miniseries. Not that longer series don't have their charms, but with miniseries, three, four, maybe even six or eight episodes & the story's told. No need to keep watching year after year. The pithiness of it appeals to me.

Another aspect where the BBC beats American TV hands down is their realism. There's a certain gloss to American series that just doesn't ring true; everybody's just so unnaturally good-looking it's hard to forget they're actors. BBC actors, on the other hand, look like... well, anybody. They're just so natural, so normal looking, it's hard to remember they're actors. And isn't that the way it's supposed to be?

In this series, Kiri, a black child, is scheduled soon to be adopted by her white foster parents the Warners. Social worker Miriam however, in the interests of Kiri knowing her roots, approves an unsupervised visit with her birth mother & her grandfather Nate. But Kiri is abducted during the visit by her ex-con birth father Tobi & later murdered.

At first, it's naturally assumed Tobi murdered her. Then comes a red herring episode in which Si, the Warners' sensitive but shy & somewhat peculiar son seems almost certain to be the killer. The culprit finally turns out to be the last person you'd ever suspect, the mild-mannered foster father Jim, who'd been so unfailingly patient, considerate & downright decent throughout.

Ok, mystery solved. The fallout turns out to be far more riveting than the mystery tho.

Hounded by the media, the dedicated Miriam is forced out of her job - her vocation really, the job she's dedicated her life to - by a cowardly bureaucracy all too ready to throw a scapegoat to the wolves at the slightest whiff of scandal. Her diligence, her compassion, her wisdom, her years of experience thrown on the scrap heap because of a single highly publicized error in judgment. The sheer injustice is thrown into sharp relief when grief-stricken self-reproaching Miriam, her life now ruined, is recognized by a compete stranger. This woman walks straight up to her, punches her in the face, then self-righteously stands over her, shouting "A child! How could you?" as if Miriam, who only ever wanted to do right by Kiri, had murdered the child herself.

Kiri's father Tobi, the obvious suspect, is equally hounded - indeed tried & convicted - by the media. He has a history of violence & he's black: clearly guilty. His father Nate (a fine understated performance by Paapa Essiedu) at first believes him guilty & sets out to track him down. When Tobi convinces him he's innocent, Nate arranges with the police for Tobi to turn himself in. All he asks is a chance for Tobi to shower, change clothes & have a decent meal at home before doing so. Just as they're about to leave for the police station tho, the police renege on the agreement, burst in & arrest Tobi as a fugitive instead.

The foster mother Alice, having come to believe her son Si is the real killer, gives damning false evidence against Tobi in order to protect Si. Si, the foster brother who genuinely loved Kiri, who was most distraught at her death, knows Alice is lying & correctly deduces why. Si's the one who figures out his dad killed her.

He confronts Jim with a choice: Admit it now & it goes no further; deny it & he'll take his suspicions not to the police but - far worse - to his mother. Jim breaks down & confesses. He'd seen the girl as "new glue" to hold his failing marriage together. When she rejected the impending adoption to run off with her birth father instead, he killed her in a fit of rage.

Si then explains his rationale for keeping Jim's guilty secret: Shaken & appalled by the public scrutiny his family has already endured, this shy sensitive boy can all too easily imagine becoming notorious as the son of "the monster family" whose dad murdered poor little Kiri. To avoid that, he'll let an innocent man to go to prison. He's a criminal anyway, isn't he? What does it matter? And this is the saddest most shocking part of all. Si isn't a bad kid, quite the opposite. Throughout, he's shown love & concern for his family, including Kiri, but his desperate need for at least the façade of white middle class respectability, no matter how sham, takes precedence over an unknown black man's innocence.

What a truly horrible ending! But that brings us back to the realism of the BBC. No happy ending here. No justice. Anywhere in the white-dominated world, a black man, innocent or not, is five times more likely to be convicted of a crime than a white man & this series doesn't flinch from this ugly reality.

What the hell? This is a beautifully written, slow paced story of what happens in the aftermath of a child's abduction and death.

Kiri is a child who was found next to her dead mother who died of an overdose. Her drug dealer dad goes to prison. She's placed with a white family who are in the process of adopting her when the social worker takes her on a visit to her father's parents.

The story ends abruptly with all the balls in the air. There's no resolution. Brilliant show... no end.

What a shame. I smirked throughout the first episode as I enjoyed the black humour and was then hit with the murder of Kiri so I thought, "hey this is actually really good." But as the series went on, I started to doubt the characters. None of the were believable, which I can't actually believe I'm writing about Sarah Lancashire as she is an amazing actress with many fantastic accolades.

I do have to say the boy who played Simon was brilliant but he was a touch too clever for his age. I didn't identify with him being of school age; rather that he was a 20-something, still living at home. I enjoyed his cynicism but it angered me that his mother didn't fight for him. And for someone who was supposed to be adored, I didn't feel their chemistry neither did I empathise with the turmoil as their relationship broke down.

The resolution was terrible. Seriously, it just wouldn't happen. Come on ITV, you can do much better than this!

Once again Sarah Lancaster turns in a masterclass performance. How an sheplumb such depths and yet live a normal life. This time all unravelling raw emotion, her devastation painful to watch. She is wonderful.

A grim tale well told by a wonderful ensemble cast. Finn in episode 4 in particular provided a nuanced outstanding performance. He is a talent, we will see more of him I hope. all the cast were excellent.

I was disappointed by the ambiguous ending, was justice served?However I found the entire serious gripping and ultimately very sad.

An interesting role for Sarah Lancaster and a series where Fellow Bristol dwellers play the game of 'guess the road they're filming on.' It's a little slow moving and felt the last episode to be a bit of an anti-climax, but the pressure on Social Workers and the decisions they make we're felt every step of the way.

Hard hitting, grim with touches of humour.

Sarah Lancashire leaves the Happy Valley of Yorkshire for Gert Lush country, Bristol.

Lancashire plays a well meaning, compassionate and experienced social worker, Miriam. She needs to add a dash of the hard stuff on her morning cup of tea and has to bring the dog to work on account of all the ailments the dog has.

However her day is blown off course when she allows Kiri, a young black girl about to be adopted by her white parents visit to visit her real grandfather. To know where she comes from.

However Kiri fails to return home, believed to be abducted by her father. Now the blame lies on Miriam that she allowed an unsupervised visit to Kiri's grandparents.

Jack Throne has not written a whodunnit. This is about the fall out from a decision Miriam made, she is now going to be exposed to the press who already express that she went easy on her grandparents because they were black. Her bosses look like they will throw Miriam to the wolves and Miriam's life looks like it will spiral downwards in the following episodes.

An important and compelling story told by a privileged white male with little or no knowledge of transracial adoption, or probably any adoption. As a transracial adoptee mother, I found the script trivialized very deep and profound issues, reducing them to birth and race. Sorry Jack Thorne, it aint that simple. Amazing cast, though I found Lia Williams/Ally too annoying, though I'm sure the writer & director intended the adoptive mother to be awful, as we are typically portrayed by male writers with mommy issues. Again, the directing by another privileged white man, Euros Lyn had excellent good camera work. compelling production design and good staging but lacked real intimate connection with the material.

A completely predictable setup with an utterly contrived ending; three stars for Lancashire, but not even she can save this awful effort.

Kiri tells the taught story of the murder of a girl in foster care. In addition to a mystery - who did it the deed? - there is also a persistent theme about the inhumanity of modern insitutions, and how a culture of accountability leads to a focus on competence in the narrowest of senses, a determination to keep control of the narrative, and a fundamental lack of empathy for those who are nominally served. It feels horrific and believable, but it's also one of those stories that would be overwhelmingly powerful if true. After all, even Harry Potter had to deal with Dolores Umbridge; the fact that a certain type of monster is a well-estanblished trope is not necessarily an acccurate reflection of the state of the world. Judged purely as drama, it suffers from the fact that its protagonists are sympathetic only to the extent that they are victims; there's little nuance in its portrait of power. Sarah Lancashire, playing a scapegoated social worker, is as excellent as you would expect; Lia Williams is also good, albeit in a somewhat contrived role. It's far from a bad series - but it's too schematic to have the full emotional impact to which it aspires.

In a nutshell. Excellent story and under rated acting. However the ending of was horrible. If you like the series ending of House of Cards you will love this. With no answers

Only rated it low due to the ending

I watched after seeing the advertisements on Hulu. I love a good mystery/thriller. However, this is a terrible show. The little black girl is murdered and her biological father, who is innocent, is automatically thrown in jail. The one who actually committed the crime, the foster dad, goes unpunished and free. Little girl gets no justice and neither does the family of her biological dad. This is a terrible series.

Another magnificent performance from the peerless Sarah Lancashire. Finn Bennett who played the son Si, the tortured, confused, unloved, observant, awkward teenager who knew that his father had murdered Kiri but chose not to turn him in, preferring to punish him by condemning him to live alone with his bitter, twisted, unfaithful liar of a wife while he was dumped at an expensive boarding school to cure him of his bitterness. The drama ended suddenly, unsatisfyingly in a way, we were guessing what the outcome of the trial would be, might Si decide to contact the police and tell them the truth or would he protect his mother from prosecution for perverting the course of justice. We will nevr know, but one this is certain, our Social Service system is broken, and their methods of placing and protecting children in the care system needs to change, to allow foster carers and adopters to know the history of the damaged children they hope to provide a loving, stable family.

I like the program its a good Drama was waiting for it to come on enjoying watching it until the F word came up again i enjoy watching dramas like this but why oh why do we have to put up with the swearing it does not add to it at all there are hundreds of programs on and people watch them because of the story the actors the theme NOTHING TO DO WITH OH MY GOODNESS YOU HAVE TO WATCH KIRI BECAUSE THEY SWEAR IN IT i find it off putting and i think im not the only one yes in life people swear at the pubs the clubs at work etc but we dont have to have it all through the dramas as well Afraid i wont be watching the rest of it for that reason .