Chris is in a tight spot. The Responder Series 2 kicks off with the Liverpudlian night copper lying to his ex about moving to the day job so she won’t leave to go to London and take his daughter away from him; but the pressure of the night job and being drawn into corruption in the long arm of the law weighs heavy over his shoulders. It’s where we pick up in Series 2, which like, with all British shows, took its time to get here. But it’s worth the wait, MartinFreeman has never been better, and steals the show right from under his Sherlock graduate, Benedict Cumbermbatch, elsewhere on Netflix this year with Eric, a nuanced, frontline officer being driven to despair by answering calls on the night shift.
We see his daily encounter with criminals, the mentally ill and the desperate one after another – it’s like entering a warzone every time Chris puts on the uniform and steps in the car and what’s best of all is that this drama feels unforced. It doesn’t feel laboured. Whilst the first season worked as a standalone, it’s nice to come back to these characters –it’s always good to spend more time with these characters in this world. Six months later is a long time jump but we see little improvements, he’s attending group therapy, but the sessions are painfully awkward. On top of that; he can’t get the day job he so desperately needs – and he’s lied to Kate about getting it already. His old partner, Deb Barnes, has dragged him back into a drugs case – and on top of that, Casey and Marco, Emily Fairn and Josh Finan, are equally unpredictable and always fun antagonists.
The Responder. Dancing Ledge/Rekha Garton
Debut screenwriter Tony Schumacher was a one-time copper and the authenticity and toughness of The Responder shows, it’s a fine place to see how far you can push people to the edge in and it’s a fine place to see these characters try to get out of those situations. Trauma plays a heavy hand, Rachel (the fantastic Adelayo Adedayo) deals with her own trauma with one of the toughest narratives of the season as she struggles getting caught up in Chris’ less than legal schemes, dealing with the consequences of a domestic abuse and her new partner having found someone else to partner with – and like clockwork, the pattern repeats itself. Can Rachel stand by when he does what he did to her to someone else?
It’s tightly written with respect and care, Chris’s unravelling tightly focused and deeply controlled. Schumacher knows what he’s doing – he’s able to bring his own, lived in experience to this world.
The Responder. Dancing Ledge/Rekha Garton
Worth noting is one of the all-time great character actors, Bernard Hill puts one of his fantastic performances that he always does; and the self-destructive approach that everyone has here no matter who they is reflected by their choices. There’s more of a realistic sense of grit and carnage than the blockbuster Line of Duty, these characters feel real and their worlds lived in. The dark humour feels dad-ish in places, and it’s so much more than just a cop show, but an addictive, pulse-pounding one. Only six episodes it’s an easy binge, I finished it in a matter of days, and it’s one of those series that is practically essential watching. What’s more is Freeman’s scouser subtleness is spot-on, authentically Liverpudlian in a way that he could only do playing an Everton fan, there feels like a deliberate choice made there to make him a blue and not a red.
It’s absolutely gripping, riveting television across the board that ends on a note that feels, after all the despair, all the gloom, surprisingly hopeful. In an interview for Empire Magazine’s excellent Pilot TV podcast, Schumacher talked about The Responder being lucky to come back for a second series. It’s hard to imagine him being called tempted to put Chris back in the saddle for one more rodeo; but if it ends there – it’s for the best. Rare has two seasons of television been this good. At only six episodes, it's an easy watch.
VERDICT: 9/10
The Responder is available on Britbox in the US and BBC IPlayer in the UK
It’s absolutely gripping, riveting television across the board that ends on a note that feels, after all the despair, all the gloom, surprisingly hopeful. In an interview for Empire Magazine’s excellent Pilot TV podcast, Schumacher talked about The Responder being lucky to come back for a second series. It’s hard to imagine him being called tempted to put Chris back in the saddle for one more rodeo; but if it ends there – it’s for the best. Rare has two seasons of television been this good. At only six episodes, it's an easy watch.
VERDICT: 9/10
The Responder is available on Britbox in the US and BBC IPlayer in the UK
