# Collision (2009)

> A five-episode British mystery follows strangers bound together by a single road accident and the investigation that unravels around it.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/7748

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 5
- Episode runtime: 48 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama, mystery
- Created by: Anthony Horowitz
- Network: ITV1
- Cast: Paul McGann, Douglas Henshall, Matt Ryan, Phil Davis, Sylvia Syms, Dean Lennox Kelly, Lucy Griffiths, Jocelyn Jee Esien
- TMDB rating: 7.5/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1349084/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: moderate
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: mild
- Tone: gentle, melancholic, measured, tense, intimate

## Synopsis

Collision (2009) is a British crime mystery limited series created by Anthony Horowitz for ITV1. Paul McGann plays Richard Reeves, one of a group of strangers whose lives are bound by a single road accident, while Douglas Henshall plays Detective Inspector John Tolin, who works to untangle the complicated crash and the secrets surrounding it. Matt Ryan, Phil Davis, Sylvia Syms, Claire Rushbrook and David Bamber fill out the ensemble of ordinary people whose separate lives are pulled into the same moment. The engine of the story is the slow excavation of what really happened on that road, as the detective and a young officer piece together statements, timelines and the private burdens each witness carries. The five-episode run gives the story room to breathe, letting the investigation and the characters' private worlds develop in measured steps rather than through frantic twists. Across its five hour-long episodes the tone is restrained and melancholic, with a quiet domestic warmth between the detective and his daughter giving the procedural weight a human heart. Fans of Broadchurch, The Missing and Line of Duty will find resonance in its grounded British investigation, its interlocking character stories and its patient, emotionally textured approach to crime.

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