Posted in: BBC, TV | Tagged: adelayo adadeyo, bbc, cop drama, jimmy mcgovern, Liverpool, martin freeman, the responder, tony schumacher

The Responder Stars Martin Freeman & Adelayo Adedayo Discuss Cop Drama

Published Thu, 27 Jan 2022 07:06:11 -0600

by Adi Tantimedh

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The Responder is the latest BBC One cop drama that stands out from the others this year. It stars Martin Freeman as a veteran first responder cop and Adelayo Adedayo as his new rookie partner as they navigate the nightly beat that takes them into the darkest parts of life in Liverpool. The series is getting rave reviews for its gritty sense of authenticity and the BBC has released a video with the stars to talk about it.

The Responder: Stars Martin Freeman and Adelayo Adedayo on Cop Drama — Martin Freeman in "The Responder", BBC

What sets The Responder apart is the script by Tony Schumacher, a real-life retired cop work worked the night-shift responder beat before leaving the force with PTSD. Schumacher took screenwriting courses and came under the mentorship of Jimmy McGovern, creator of Cracker, Hillsborough, Reg, and a long list of searing TV dramas, and arguably one of the greatest living screenwriters out there. McGovern encouraged Schumacher to write authentically about what he knew from his law enforcement experiences before he decided to write thrillers, that those would be further along in his career. Best to write something he really knew first. The result is The Responder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eg3duXZOrU

Martin Freeman plays a cop under siege. He's approaching burnout, his mental health is teetering on a knife's edge, and he's not the good guy that the public assumes cops to be. He's compromised, having to navigate the fragile street politics of drug dealers while also handling emergency calls that expose the worst excesses of humanity where there's no good or right decision, only the least awful one. He's saddled with a rookie played by Adedayo who has no idea what she's in for on the streets. When he bends the rules to help a young addict, he crosses the local drug lord (Ian Hart) and forces a reckoning on the streets that won't end well for anyone caught in their orbit. In a way, you could say this is Martin Freeman's Bad Lieutenant.

The Responder is currently on BBC One and iPlayer in the UK. It hasn't been picked up for the US yet, but will probably end up on one of the streaming services.

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