The Responder (Season 2)

Available on BBC iPlayer

The second season of Tony Schumacher’s dark police drama The Responder sees the former Merseyside Police officer continue to tackle some challenging themes, albeit in broad strokes. 

Martin Freeman once again impresses as the series’ morally compromised protagonist Chris, although his character is frustratingly impossible to differentiate from the angry, self-destructive iteration we grew used to in its debut outing. Therein lies the problem for Schumacher’s show, which admirably attempts to shine a light on the hardships endured by Liverpool’s working class while also being the sort of high octane, unpredictable thriller that typically draws in large audiences.

Without doubt, The Responder is most interesting when it is focused on the former. Subsequently, the most absorbing character arcs in this season are those of Rachel (Adelayo Adebayo) and Marco (Josh Finan). Adebayo’s depiction of a young woman coming to terms with her experience of domestic abuse is often powerful, while Finan delivers a promising turn as an unequipped single parent that is desperately trying to kick his bad habits to the curb. Sadly, such depth is seldom seen and much of the show is focused on Chris’ implausible one-man crusade to save the city’s unfortunates from the machinations of its drug-dealing antagonists.  

If you’re anything like me, you’ll find The Responder’s frequent, logic-defying plot holes hard to ignore, but those that can will doubtlessly be entertained by a show that is, at the very least, impeccably performed.