THE RISING
Gone Girl
UK Sky Max, Fridays/all streaming on NOW
Showrunner Pete Mctighe
Cast Clara Rugaard, Nicholas Gleaves,
Matthew Mcnulty, Nenda Neururer
Imagine, if you will, Broadchurch as penned by MR James. Or maybe Randall And Hopkirk (Deceased) redone as a bleak Scandi-noir drama.
This supernatural crime thriller opens with 19-year-old Neve Kelly (a brilliant Clara Rugaard) floating in a lake. After pulling herself out she walks home, only to discover that her mum, frantic with worry about her daughter’s whereabouts, can’t see her. Neve is dead, you see, and it soon transpires that she was murdered. Only her last hours are a blur. She can’t remember how she died, where, or who killed her.
Luckily, she has two links to the physical world: her hard-drinking dad and Alex, a fellow teen she met at a party the night she died.
If all this rings a distant bell, then you’ve probably caught the Belgian series The Rising is based on. Thankfully for Sky, 2017’s Hotel Beau Séjour didn’t hit as big as other Euro dramas that have been remade for English-language audiences, so The Rising stands a better chance of being judged on its own, quite considerable merits.
A high five to lead writer Pete Mctighe (whose credits also include Doctor Who’s “Kerblam!” and “Praxeus”) for crafting a series that, initially at least, wears its supernatural clothes lightly, telling a story that’s chock full of twists and intrigue, while a heavy emotional fog hangs over every episode. That bleakness is bolstered by the Lake District location, with its damp, desolate terrain as much a character here as any of the various suspects.
With its unique blend of ghost story and social-realist crime thriller, The Rising feels thrillingly fresh, each genre giving the other a much-needed shot in the arm. And, unusually for a whodunnit, the denouement doesn’t disappoint, with the series ending on a poignant and very definite full-stop.
This is only a remake of the first series of Hotel Beau Séjour. Series two of the Belgian show told a different story.
Initially at least, wears its supernatural clothes lightly