New BBC drama Dope Girls has failed to impress viewers with its chaotic first episode as it’s dubbed ‘bonkers’.
The period crime drama had been hailed as the ‘next Peaky Blinders’ ahead of airing but now fans have declared they won’t be tuning in again.
Set in London in the direct aftermath of WWI, the six-part series follows a ‘newly empowered generation of women are loath to simply return to the kitchen’ and instead utilise Soho’s ‘expanding illicit underground clubland scene as their playground’.
In the first episode, we meet a variety of women including main characters Billie, Violet, Kate, and Evie as they navigate this post-war era.
Kate Galloway, played by Julianne Nicholson, is our leading lady — a single mother who establishes a nightclub and ‘embraces a life of criminal activities in order to be able to provide for her daughter’.
However, the show’s fast-paced patchwork style has left viewers feeling a little underwhelmed.
From time jumps to narrative paths crossing, Dope Girls was blasted as ‘gloomy, impossibly shot, totally confusing tripe’ on X.
‘I saw ep 1 this afternoon. Rather bonkers and awful at the same time,’ wrote PandaMum14.
‘Safe to say I won’t be watching any more of that season 😂’ laughed louise_sasha20 while Roz4Luv called it a ‘load of drivel’.
‘It’s a bit strange so far. I’m hoping it gets better,’ said a___w89 as Trace_P1967 questioned: ‘Not at all sure what I just watched. Was I meant to make sense of or understand what was going on?
PamAlexP45a said: ‘Sat through the whole lot but I’ve no idea why. In fact I’d be hard-pressed to tell you what this gloomy, impossibly shot, totally confusing tripe is about. And I couldn’t be bothered anyway.’
The episode starts with a flash forward to Kate bathing in a fountain, before cutting back in time to a different woman’s life as it stitched the stories together.
Based on the 1992 non-fiction book Dope Girls: The Birth of the British Drug Underground by Marek Kohn, Kate’s story shares many similarities with real-life figure Kate Meyrick.
The BBC has said the show is ‘inspired by a forgotten time in history but all its events and characters are fictional’.
Some people did appear to like the slightly fractured style and appreciated that the show was quickly building intrigue.
‘This is different but good,’ said NatalieDrury2 as louise_sasha20 wrote: ‘I can’t work out if this show is really good or awful? But also can’t stop watching.’
‘Well I was engrossed in #DOPEGIRLS but it looks like I’m in the minority,’ shared MikeLon97728308.
Si_underwood joked: ‘I am very much into what you are putting down, and would like to subscribe to the next 5 episodes of your newsletter.’
With the full season on iPlayer already and the next episode set to air next week, the BBC still has plenty of time to win over viewers.
For now, the jury is out on this drug-filled hedonistic drama.
Dope Girls is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.
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