The Responder (TV Series) Episode #1.1 (2022) User Reviews

Well made, just so bleak.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 5 February 2022]

Chris Carson is a man on the edge, A Responder, who's struggling to balance work and life, surrounded by the worst in society, life is tough.

Part one down, and I honestly don't know what I think of it, if I were to use a few words and phrases, it incredibly dark and bleak, gritty, depressing, but superbly produced, and amazingly acted, Freeman is awesome.

I wish I could rate this more highly, but I'm really not sure if I enjoyed it or not. I got stressed as hell watching it, as almost every single character in this was loathsome, Carl included. It seemed to offer absolutely no hope, no chink of light.

Gritty, very gritty, it's going to take a few more episodes to warm up I think.

A nice supporting cast including Elizabeth Berrington, Victor Maguire and Rita Tusshingham, the latter duo of course appearing in Bread together.

6/10.

Episode 1

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 27 January 2022]

The Responder stars Martin Freeman as Chris Carson. A police officer in Liverpool who has to respond to emergency calls.

Carson is on the edge. He might have been a good cop once. Now he is mentally exhausted and even compromised.

Carson initially appears to have a happy home life but he sees a therapist.

His police colleagues seem unimpressed with his recent actions. When called out to a neighbour dispute, he ends up threatening both parties.

What sends Carson under pressure is that he is being plagued by Carl (Ian Hart) a drug dealer who has been ripped off by a user called Casey. It seems Carson is in his debt.

Carson needs to bring her to Carl so he can punish her. Instead Carson takes her to safety.

Carson tells his infirmed mother that he has done a good thing. Carl is furious and Casey has not been entirely truthful.

The episode starts of chaotically to reflect Carson's mood. The story takes shape when Carl runs after Casey armed with a hammer. Prompting Carson to take evasive action.

The Responder is grimy and grim. It examines the rubbishy end of society that is suffocating Carson. The opener is just a little bit too depressing and you fear that it's going to get worse for Carson in later episodes.

Freeman's scouse accent takes some adjusting to. This is in contrast to native scousers such as Hart and Rita Tushingham who plays Carson's mother.

Suitably bleak with misplaced sympathy and a fake minor character

[polite-45692 · 6/10 · 3 April 2024]

Suitably bleak with misplaced sympathy and a fake minor character.

Good to see a police show that is bleak and dark due to the tiresome daily (nightly) routine.

The copper being a kind of simp (a "mug") for a grimy, drug addicted piece of trash does not make sense, especially for his claim that he did something "good." He obviously did not.

The weaselly drug dealer with dirty curly hair is about the least intimidating criminal that could be encountered, yet he constantly gets away with making verbal threats to the copper.

Even so, all that might reasonably flow together for the type of show it is. But then a fake minor character--a gossipy diversity hire--is ridiculously out of place and takes away from the way the show develops.

Dark and slow .....f bomb laden

[rlda-38329 · 3/10 · 24 May 2022]

Great cast , many actors we've seen in other things . Having said that , I've lost count of F bombs. It's looking depressing, and that's 30 minutes into first episode. Thinking we are gonna bail.. see Ya Bilbo.

Well written, well acted, wrong and vile

[pjdickinson-27822 · 5/10 · 25 January 2022]

This is a disturbing show which could have been far better than it appears to be from the first episode. Freeman and every actor does what they are told very well but this story about a damaged man surrounded by terrible people is poisoned by its identitarian execution which is insulting. It doesn't appear to be about race but it's the BBC so the only person in the thick of it with a moral compass is portrayed by a black actress which is appallingly tokenistic and racist to boot. 90% of the characters are unspeakably vile and very white but the only black character seems human and the only one without a semblance of depth. I haven't watched the other 4 episodes but it wouldn't surprise me if every banal, boring and inconsequential character is also from a protected group. This show is trying to say something important but the way it's being delivered will stifle the message. It's about terrible or made terrible people but you can feel the dead hand of people trying to portray it in a politically correct way holding it back.

I hated this

[the_venetian · 1/10 · 17 December 2022]

Gave it a shot because it had good reviews. It might be good, but one hour of it was enough to turn me off. I loathe stories about druggies, because I have no patience with them -- it's a rare film involving them that overcomes it enough to make me give a damn. And while I was a little interested in what sent Martin Freeman off the deep end, an introduction to some of the people he deals with was enough to make me think anyone would. I just can't garner enough interest to carry on with it and its generally unlikeable principals.

Off to search something sunnier.

Oh, and I'm with others: I used subtitles to follow it. And actually had to look up a couple of words. I'm all for regional accents and all that but sometimes I am with Professor Higgins: Why can't the English learn how to speak?

Needs subtitles

[dlmvegas · 1/10 · 26 January 2022]

I really like Martin Freeman but without subtitles for this show you can't even understand what they saying over 50% of the time. Apparently, I'm not the only one either. An article came out stating even British people have problems with the conversations in the show.

Until there is subtitles I won't be watching the rest of the series.