# The Responder (2022)

> A burnt-out Liverpool copper and his rookie partner patrol the city's relentless night shift, where the line between saving and destroying each other keeps blurring.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/117829

## Facts

- Seasons: 2
- Episodes: 10
- Episode runtime: 58 min
- Status: Canceled
- Genres: crime, drama
- Created by: Tony Schumacher
- Network: BBC One
- Cast: Martin Freeman, Adelayo Adedayo, Emily Fairn, Romi Hyland-Rylands, Josh Finan, Mark Womack, Warren Brown, MyAnna Buring
- TMDB rating: 7.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11899030/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: bleak, gritty, tense, claustrophobic, melancholic

## What critics say

Audiences rate the series positively, praising its gritty night-time Liverpool atmosphere and Martin Freeman's performance as a police officer under strain.

## Synopsis

The Responder (2022-2024) is a British crime drama series created by Tony Schumacher for BBC One, a two-season run of ten hour-long episodes that was later canceled. Martin Freeman plays copper Chris Carson, a police officer working the relentless night-time streets of Liverpool, paired with a rookie, Rachel Hargreaves, played by Adelayo Adedayo. Around them orbit Chris's family, including Kate Carson (MyAnna Buring) and Tilly Carson (Romi Hyland-Rylands), and fellow officers such as Casey (Emily Fairn) and Raymond Mullen (Warren Brown). The engine of the series is Chris's struggle to hold himself together while the job pulls him toward corruption, depression and anxiety, and the question of whether his new partnership will save or destroy both officers. Each season is built from a continuing storyline threaded through nightly patrols, so the shape is serialized rather than case of the week. Adapted from a novel, the show carries a bleak, grimy, rain-soaked tone, a tense and morally unsettled atmosphere, and a claustrophobic sense of a city that never sleeps. Viewers who enjoy Line of Duty and Happy Valley will find the same dark British police grit here, with a focus on the human cost of policing.

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