"I was totally involved, enthralled and appalled in turn."

"Absolutely brilliant and totally gripping from beginning to end with superb acting throughout. Thoroughly realistic, with atmospheric settings and story line. I was totally involved, enthralled and appalled in turn as we were allowed to identify with and begin to understand and also to pity the tormented Todd himself. An orgy of entertainment, in fact."

Liz Rees, Swindon


"A brilliant play. It displayed pity, hate, shock, horror, love, jealousy, greed, pain etc in a non gratuitous way. I did have to look away at times - but found myself captivated to the end. Ray Winstone was awesome. This was the best play on TV for a long time."

Julian Deakin, Kent


"An extremely well acted play by the ever brilliant Ray. I wasn't sure if Sweeney Todd was a real character or not, but he was alive in this."

Cathy Stewart, London


"Ray Winstone was extremely convincing as Sweeney Todd. The fact that Todd thought it was a justifiable thing to murder and he appeared to get an explosive buzz from the actual blood spurting everywhere leads me to believe he was just evil and selfish. Its easy to justify your own evil doing by what happened to you in your upbringing but I just don't believe his childhood made him murder only men."

Catherine M Wright, Derbyshire


"Not a patch on the Sondheim musical.

'You can't tell the story of Sweeney Todd and make it nice and cosy; there's the Sondheim musical of course, which is all lovely-jubbly, but it's not realistic', says the producer, which leads me to suspect that he's either not seen the Sondheim piece or hasn't a clue what he's talking about.

What a waste of time, BBC. Every London cliché in the book and a risible plot."

Derel Light, Glasgow

"The sets and costumes were absolutely perfect."

"An absolutely fascinating and wonderfully acted drama by a superb cast of actors, led by the consistently great Ray Winstone. The sets and costumes were absolutely perfect, creating a frightening atmosphere. The slow-paced direction added to the chilling atmosphere of the piece, just brilliant."

Ian Watts, Southsea


"I was shocked by this so much, that I'm prompted to write to the BBC for the first time. I was concerned at the continuous graphic content. While the program came on after nine, surely in this day and age many children would be up at this time watching it. Even so - is it right that such graphic scenes of murder and mutilation be presented to anyone as entertainment?"

P Wallace, Canterbury


"Did we really need to see that much blood? We'd got the idea after the first couple of victims, no need for unnecessary gore, it added nothing to the story. Other than that, brilliant!"

Sophie, Disley, Cheshire

"I can barely recall the incessant murders and associated gore."

"I thought this was an extremely touching drama. The look on Todd's face when Payne hugged him and the short and uncompleted coupling with Mrs Lovett were lovely moments. Strangely I can barely recall the incessant murders and associated gore as my mind returns to those very fine scenes."

Alan, Norwich


"Hated the violence, had to look away, but then that's me. Loved the wonderfully understated performance of Winstone, another gem in this man's career. Brooding, powerful, sophisticated drama. The BBC at its period drama best."

Tim Benson, London


"Ray Winstone in fine form as usual - a chilling yet poignant performance as Sweeney Todd. He made me cry for his inner child while I was revolted at his adult brutality."

Eleanor Phillips, Northumberland

"Why cast a female lead from the Dick Van Dyke school of London accents?."

"Excellent telly. The BBC have come up trumps again. I was devastated at the end of Bleak House so it was some consolation to see Ray Winstone in this hard-hitting drama - more hammer-faced than Hammer House, thank goodness.

Here's the but - with such high production values why cast a female lead from the Dick Van Dyke school of London accents? It was off-putting and detracted from the storming performance of Mr Winstone."

Jane, London


"What a brilliant piece of drama and intrigue. Ray Winstone was excellent as the confused and tortured Sweeney Todd. The script introduced us to each character, gradually building relationships and motives. Sweeney Todd became an understandable, though confused, radical thinker. The invetability of the final scenes were obvious from the beginning, but the programme was no less compelling to watch. But blood-letting at 9:20 in the evening may not be to everyone's taste."

Ian Miller-Hall, Aylesbury, Bucks


"I was unable to move from my armchair the whole time this was on and I have not felt like that about anything for months. I was there in the period, could smell the smells and feel the discomfort. Ray Winstone was wonderful I did not question his actions for a minute, he was so convincing in the role."

Vee Starr, Weymouth, Dorset.


"Ray Winstone is a hard man to steal a scene from, but David Warner managed this in every scene where they appeared together. Proof again that Warner is one of the most mesmerising actors alive, and he could and should have been the British Marlon Brando"

Tom King, Wickford, Essex