River #TV #BriFri
Welcome to British Isles Friday! British Isles Friday is a weekly event for sharing all things British and Irish — reviews, photos, opinions, trip reports, guides, links, resources, personal stories, interviews, and research posts. Join us each Friday to link your British and Irish themed content and to see what others have to share. The link list is at the bottom of this post. Pour a cup of tea or lift a pint and join our link party!
Last week, I talked about my unexpected fascination with the Welsh detective drama, Hinterland. Speaking of mysteries, Tina enjoyed, for the most part, the book Missing, Presumed by Susie Steiner. Jackie shared more photos from her 2005 trip to Ireland, including some really clever flower boxes. Sim’s fantasy walk in London taught us about the Noses of Soho and the roots of the place name of Picadilly Circus. Becky reviewed the omnibus, The World of Winnie-the-Pooh.
BBC Detective show with a dramatic twist
I devoured the six episodes in the first and only, so far, season of River. It premiered on BBC One in October last year and on Netflix a month later.
I recognized several of the cast members from other shows and movies. Stellan Skarsgård who plays DCI River was in many Hollywood movies — I saw him, most recently, in The Railway Man. Nicola Walker had a recurring role in Scott & Bailey.
Unlike Hinterland, this show makes me smile all the time, even though the stories are quite tragic. DCI John River has an unusual quirk that I’m not going to reveal. The first ten minutes or so of the first episode are more fun if you get to discover the secret for yourself.
I love the relationships between the characters. DCI River needs help and, sometimes, he even admits it. Something about him makes people, including the viewer, want to be there for him. From the perspective of the plot, it doesn’t hurt that River’s quirk sometimes gives him a special edge for solving the crime.
London gets a starring role in this series with delightful shots of the skyline and recognizable places like the Millenium Bridge.
Have you seen this series? What did you think?