Category Archives: British Police

2011, Abduction, Abuse of Women, Action sequences, Ageing parent, Amazon Prime Brit Box, Based on a Book, Blackmail, Bloody scenes, British Mystery Series, British Police, Car Chase, Career Criminal, Clever Plot, Complicated, Contract Killing, Corrupt policemen, Corruption, Could Be Hard To Watch, Crime, Crime thriller, Death of a child, Detective, Disturbing Image, DO NOT MISS, Drug Dealers, Drugs, Eccentric Detective, Emotional abuse, Ethical struggles, Failing Marriage, Family Conflict, Father-daughter relations, Fight Scenes, Flirting, Forensics, Gambling, Grim, Grisly, Gritty, Hopeless Love, Human trafficking, Infuriating, Lawyers, Love Story, Mourning, Murder, Murder Trial, Pedophilia, Plot twists, Poker, Police Corruption, Police Culture, Possibly upsetting ending, Psychiatrists, Romance, Sad ending, Single Mother, Suicide, Suspense, Thriller, Trial Scenes, Upsetting ending, Violent

DCI Banks (2011)

From IMDB:

The tenacious and stubborn DCI Banks unravels disturbing murder mysteries aided by his young assistants, DS Annie Cabbot and DI Helen Morton.

From Amazon Prime Brit Box (or just independently Brit Box) you can stream 5 seasons of this outstandingly tense British crime series. Almost all complete stories require two consecutive episodes.  All seasons contain 6 episodes (i.e 3 stories) where each episode lasts about 45 minutes.

Season 1 contains 7 episodes because the first episode is the pilot called “Aftermath”. PLEASE DO NOT WATCH this episode because it is so ugly that you might not want to watch the rest of the series. Indeed the crimes in all the stories are disturbing but season 1 episode 1 is especially nasty.

Detectives Alan Banks, Annie Cabbot, and Helen Morton are  present throughout.  Alan falls in love with Annie and a constant theme is whether they will ever get together. Alan’s father is always an annoyance. Shaun Dooley plays a wonderfully infuriating evil criminal Steve Richards.

Kathy and I eagerly ploughed through all 30 episodes, exclaiming after each story “Wow!”  In fact in one sitting we always watched two episodes making one complete story.

DO NOT MISS!

2022, Acceptable for teenagers, Amazon Prime, Anti-Gay Laws, Art appreciation, Art Museum, Based on a Book, Bisexual theme, British Drama, British Police, DO NOT MISS, Drama, Explicit sex, Extramarital Affair, Gay Bashing, Gay theme, Homophobia, Longsuffering wife, Love Triangle, Marital Infidelity, Nudity, Personal Betrayal, Police Culture, Prison, Promiscuity, Sex Scenes, Sexual Seduction, Surprise Ending, Trial Scenes, Unexpected Ending, Unhappy Ending, Unhappy Marriage, Unusual ending

My Policeman (2022)

From IMDB:

The arrival of Patrick into Marion and Tom’s home triggers the exploration of seismic events from 40 years previously.

From Amazon Prime:

A tale of forbidden romance and changing social conventions, My Policeman follows the relationships between three people—policeman Tom (Harry Styles/Linus Roache), teacher Marion (Emma Corrin/Gina
McKee) and museum curator Patrick (David Dawson/Rupert Everett)—and their emotional journey spanning decades.

From Amazon Prime you can stream this 1 hour 54 minute British drama.

In this intense drama Tom marries Marion all the while carrying on a secret love affair with Patrick.  Such an explanation is far too simple for such a superb, complex, well acted drama.

Because the action switches continually between the past and the present, each of the three characters are presented by two actors,  a younger actor for the past and an older actor for the present.

  • Harry Styles as young Tom also stars in the film “Don’t Worry Darling.”
  • Linus Roache as older Tom is well-known as the assistant DA from several seasons of “Law and Order.”
  • Emma Corrin as young Marion played Princess Diana Spencer in one of the seasons of “The Crown.”
  • Gina McKee as older Marion for me will always be Irene from “The Forsyte Saga.”
  • David Dawson as young Patrick played Alfred in “The Last Kingdom.”
  • Rupert Everett as older Patrick played George Downes in “My Best Friend’s Wedding.”

Critics found many negatives but audiences, including Kathy and me, loved it.

DO NOT MISS!

2022, Acceptable for teenagers, Accidental Death, Amazon Prime Brit Box, Based on true facts, Basically Sad, Binge worthy, Bloody scenes, British Drama, British History, British Police, British Politics, Detective, Drama, Ethical struggles, Everybody lies, Family Secrets, Father-son relations, Fight Scenes, Government cover-up, Historical Fiction, Manslaughter, Marital Infidelity, Miners, Miners versus Scabs, Murder, Occasionaly violent, Panic Attacks, Personal Betrayal, Police cover-up, Police Culture, Police Investigation, Redemption, Revenge, Sister-sister relations, Small British village, Suicide, Suspense, Undercover police spy, Undercover police work, Violent, Wonderful acting, Yorkshire Accents

Sherwood (2022)

From IMDB:

Two shocking and unexpected murders shatter an already fractured community leading to one of the largest manhunts in British history.

From Amazon Prime Brit Box you can stream the 6 episodes of this north England series. Each episode is just under an hour.

In 1984 Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher crushed a coal miner’s strike, thereby earning her title of “Iron Lady.”  Hard feelings between the striking miner’s and those who continued to work, so-called “scabs”,  have persisted from then on.  Sherwood is a small town historically associated with Robin Hood.  Of all the town’s inhabitants only one family is a “scab” family.  Striker versus scab is the paramount theme of this series which continually bounces back and forth between 1984 and the present.

Past tragedies involved the  young policemen and miners who now are middle age going on retirement.  One challenge in watching this series is to match the young characters with their present-day versions.

There are three vital subplots:

  • Someone is murdering people with a crossbow. We soon learn who and the police hunt is intense.
  • Andy Fisher inadvertently kills his daughter-in-law and the hunt is on.
  • In 1984 there was an undercover police spy, dubbed the “spy cop”, who incorporated his-or-herself into the community.  Again there is this third hunt to find the “spy cop.”

If you watch much British drama you will recognize many familiar faces. As usual in British drama the acting is superb.  With such an engaging and suspenseful plot you cannot go wrong.

DO NOT MISS!