''The Responder'' is a British police drama television series set in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, written by former

Merseyside Police Merseyside Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Merseyside in North West England. The service area is 647 square kilometres with a population of around 1.5 million. As of September 2017 the service has 3,484 police o ...

officer Tony Schumacher, with Tim Mielants as leading director and starring

Martin Freeman Martin John Christopher Freeman (born 8 September 1971) is an English actor. Among other accolades, he has won two Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award, and has been nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Freeman's most ...

, Adelayo Adedayo, Ian Hart, and

MyAnna Buring My Anna Margaretha Buring Rantapää (born 22 September 1979), known professionally as MyAnna Buring (), is a Swedish-born British actress. Her films include ''The Descent'' (2005), ''Kill List'' (2011), and ''The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn � ...

. It aired on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

on 24 January 2022. Schumacher has said that the character has "a lot to do" with him and the struggles he faced as a police officer but that the storyline is fictional. In late March 2022, the show was renewed for a second series, consisting of five episodes, which began airing on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on 5 May 2024. The second series marked the final acting performance of

Bernard Hill Bernard Hill (17 December 1944 – 5 May 2024) was an English actor. He was known for his versatile roles in both television and film, and his career spanned over fifty years. Hill first gained prominence as the troubled hard man Yosser Hughes ...

, who died the day of its release.

Premise

Chris Carson is a police officer in a fictional constabulary covering Liverpool, who has been demoted from his position as an

inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia The rank of Inspector is present in all Australian police forces excep ...

and undertakes a series of night shifts in the

city centre A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the Commerce, commercial, Culture, cultural and often the historical, Politics, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely e ...

. He is a conflicted and compromised man, with somewhat divided loyalties, a desire to do good, but with anger issues brought on by childhood trauma and exacerbated by his experience in the police. Shots of him working are interspersed with scenes at therapy, at home, with his mother in a nursing home, or visiting his estranged father. His partner is Rachel Hargreaves, an inexperienced and idealistic officer who wants to play by the rules but who ultimately dislikes her job. Series 1 Carl Sweeney is a mid-level drug dealer whose stash of cocaine has been stolen by Casey, a local drug addict. Chris is trying to help Casey and in doing so crosses Carl. Marco is a young friend of Casey's who struggles to meet his daily needs. Chris is pursued by the officer responsible for his demotion, whose motives may not be entirely honest, as part of a corruption probe. The effects of the job and Chris's mental state take a toll on his family. Series 2

Cast and characters

Main *

as PC Chris Carson * Adelayo Adedayo as PC Rachel Hargreaves, a probationary police officer * Warren Brown as Raymond Mullen, a demoted officer with an axe to grind *

as Kate Carson, Chris's wife * Emily Fairn as Casey, a drug addict * Josh Finan as Marco, Casey's friend * Philip S. McGuinness as Ian, Carl's henchman * Mark Womack as Barry, Carl's henchman * Ian Hart as Carl Sweeney, a drug dealer * Rita Tushingham as June Carson, Chris's mother * Kerrie Hayes as Ellie Mullen, Raymond's wife and Kate's best friend *

Faye McKeever Faye McKeever (born ) is an English actress. Her notable works include playing Linda in Sky 1 sitcom '' Trollied'', Marie in '' Massive'' and Claire Olssen in '' Little Boy Blue''. Career McKeever first rose to prominence in 2006 playing Do ...

as Jodie Sweeney, Carl's wife * David Bradley as Davey, a local homeless man * Christine Tremarco as Diane Gallagher, Greg's sister * Amaka Okafor as DCI Deborah Barnes, Chris's boss * James Nelson-Joyce as Greg Gallagher, a drug lord Recurring *

Elizabeth Berrington Elizabeth Berrington (born 3 August 1970) is an English actress and graduate of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art; she is best known for her roles as Ruby Fry in '' Waterloo Road'', Paula Kosh in '' Stella'', Mel Debrou in '' Moving Wa ...

as Lynne Renfrew, Chris's therapist * Philip Barantini as Steve, Rachel's boyfriend *

Philip Whitchurch Philip Whitchurch (born 30 January 1951) is an English stage, film, and television actor. He is best known for playing Captain William Frederickson in three episodes of ''Sharpe'' between 1994-1997 and the role of Chief Inspector Philip Cato i ...

as Joe, Casey's grandfather * Romi Hyland-Rylands as Tilly Carson, Chris and Kate's daughter Guest *

as Tom Carson *

Victor McGuire Victor McGuire (born 17 March 1964) is an English actor best known for playing Jack Boswell in series 1–3 and 5–7 of Carla Lane's ''Bread'', Ron Wheatcroft in every series of '' Goodnight Sweetheart'' and its 2016 one-off episode, and Sean ...

as Trevor * Dominic Carter as Bernie Wilson * Matthew Cottle as Father Liam Neeson * Dave Hill as Billy * Sylvie Gatrill as Mary * Sonny Walker as Stevo Marsh * James Ledsham as Enno * Connor Dempsey as Kyle * David Ayres as Andy * Kieron Urquhart as Paul * Harry Burke as Liam *

Sue Johnston Sue Johnston (born Susan Wright; 7 December 1943) is an English actress. She is known for portraying Sheila Grant in the Channel 4 soap opera '' Brookside'' (1982–1990), Barbara Royle in the BBC comedy '' The Royle Family'' (1998–2012), G ...

as Madge

Episodes

Series 1 (2022)

Series 2 (2024)

Release

The series premiered on

on 24 January 2022. In some international territories, the series was broadcast in a re-edited form consisting of two series of six episodes. The series was shown by Canal Plus in France. In Australia, the first season aired on SBS TV and SBS On Demand. The first episode was watched 6,164,000 times on iPlayer alone during 2022, making it the third most-viewed individual programme on the platform that year. The original soundtrack, composed by

Matthew Herbert Matthew Herbert (born in 1972), also known as Herbert, Doctor Rockit, Radio Boy, Mr. Vertigo, Transformer, Wishmountain, and DJ Empty, is a British electronic musician. He often takes sounds from everyday items to produce electronic music. ...

, was released by Accidental Editions in March 2022 and includes eighteen tracks.

Reception

Critical response

The review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

gave the first series a 100% approval rating, with an average rating of 8.8/10, based on 23 reviews. The critics' consensus reads: "''The Responder'' is unrelentingly dark and inescapably absorbing, with Martin Freeman's hangdog performance carrying the drama". On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the series has a weighted average score of 87 out of 100, based on 7 reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gave series 2 a 100% approval rating, with an average rating of 9.6/10, based on 15 reviews. The critics' consensus reads: "Putting Martin Freeman's character through the absolute ringer ic this second season proves to be as battered, bruised, and resilient as its compelling antihero". On Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 90 out of 100, based on 6 reviews.

Accolades

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Responder, The 2020s British drama television series 2020s British police procedural television series 2022 British television series debuts BBC crime drama television shows British detective television series British English-language television shows British thriller television series Fiction about police corruption Television shows filmed in England Television shows filmed in Northern Ireland Television shows set in England Television shows shot in Liverpool BBC high definition shows