Tortured cop Martin Freeman is back on the night shift...
And so’s his cracking Scouse accent
THE RESPONDER Sunday, BBC1, 9pm
Adeserved hit in 2022, the Bafta-nominated drama The Responder, set on the night-time streets of Liverpool, is back and it doesn’t disappoint. Its lead character is a policeman, but the show barely ventures into a police station. Instead it’s a riveting character study of a man on the edge who’s struggling ‘to be a good bobby’ and a good father.
PC Chris Carson, played superbly by Martin Freeman, left, complete with Scouse accent, has been left shattered by working nights as an urgent response officer, the first on the scene to emergency calls. He’s a fundamentally decent man, but bending the rules to get by, and to help out a young drug addict in the first series (still available on BBC iPlayer), sucked him into corruption and a criminal underworld from which there seemed to be no escape.
Anguish, exasperation and anger are etched across his face.
It sounds bleak, but the show is gripping and darkly funny, with a bristling script that makes you feel his pain and side with him as he careers off the straight and narrow.
The second series is happy to take its time as it slowly reintroduces its characters, before cutting loose in a tense and funny second episode.
Carson is still working nights and remains a tortured mess. He has now split up with his wife, is skint and is living in a dingy flat where he catches odd moments with his daughter, feeding her kebabs and Coke out of a chipped Everton mug. He’d do anything to get a day job so he could see more of her, and you know that that desperation will lead him into trouble again.
A strong cast returns to play the other damaged characters. Rachel (Adelayo Adedayo) is the young cop who’s been saddled with Carson as a partner. She too has a traumatic home life and is soon dragged deeper into his unconventional and dangerous world.
Also back are drug addict Casey (Emily Fairn) and her flaky friend Marco (Josh Finan). They may be scallies, but you warm to them too.
In this series Marco is forced to come to terms with being a father, while Casey’s past comes back to haunt her. Look out, too, for Bernard Hill, who plays Carson’s dad.
The show is written by Tony Schumacher, who was a Merseyside cop for ten years, then a taxi driver. The major storyline for this series is about drugs again, but it’s really about people’s lives, and at the heart of it all is Carson battling his demons.
When he inevitably takes yet another wrong turn you can’t help but feel for him. Or as Schumacher puts it: ‘I shouldn’t like him, but I do.’