The Responder

Written by Tony Schumacher, himself a first-responder cop on Merseyside for 11 years.

The story is fictional but has the air of authenticity, it's real life down and dirty drama on the streets of Liverpool. Martin Freeman (an award winning performance here) plays a burnt out cop who seems to have lost his moral compass.

Production values were good all round, script and supporting cast were top notch, plus a nice score too. It won't be for everyone, it has black humour but it's quite bleak and reminiscent of Ken Loach and Jimmy McGovern who mentored the writer.

I liked its original approach, its not just another police procedural. A strong and well made drama that looks honestly at inner-city Britain today. Hope it wins the wide audience it deserves and gets another series. Big congrats to all involved.

And so is the rest of the cast - this is gritty British TV at its very best. If you don't like gritty and dark, this is not for you - it's no Midsumer Murders. It also shows a Britain that most people outside of it usually don't get to see or even know about. Another interesting aspect is the fact that this is set in LIverpool and most of the cast speak with a (more or less pronounced) Scouser accent. Britain is such a diverse place, but most people only think of London and the South when they think of it. I've always liked Martin Freeman, but I had no idea he was THAT good of an actor. He's incredible in this, and the young troublemakers (the junkie girl and the dim wit dude, I can't recall their names now - oh hold on, Casey is the girl).

So anyway, to make a long story short, this should be rated way better than a 7.4 on here (Rotten Tomatoes has it rated much higher!) and I highly recommend it!! Hopefully, there will be a Season 2!!!!

Refreshing to see what the dark gritty side of Liverpool is really like as being a scouser myself every character has put in a performance down to a T especially the Scouse dialect lingo which is completely spot-on. Great performances by Martin Freeman! Must watch.

Martin Freeman is totally brilliant in this gritty and affecting drama. It's a pretty grim and dark setting so if you're expecting some light relief then this won't help. But if you enjoy totally immersive and compelling acting then you'll love it. One of the best acting performances I've seen in years.

There is a nightmarish quality to this series. I wanted to turn it off and to wake up from the bad dream, but there was a momentum about it that propelled me onward. There are few sane, grounded characters -- they are all lying to themselves and to others, making one bad decision after another until everything is careening out of control. I kept watching to find out how it would all be resolved.

I wish I could sympathize more with the characters. In spite of some grand gestures, the "responder" is no saint and has a pretty casual attitude about drug dealing. One hopes that most cops have a clearer moral compass and aren't such screw-ups. Still, Martin Freeman's performance was riveting. Watching this was like watching a car wreck. It's hard not to look.