Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Nicola Walker, Jamie Sives, Katie Leung, Ukwelu Roach, Silvie Furneaux, Paul McGann, Jade Chan, Kate Dickie, Hannah Donaldson, Saskia Ashdown, Andy Clark, Martin Bell.
A detective must have a quirk to make them more appealing to the television viewer, the moment when the serious equivalent of the comedic catchphrase is long awaited for by those investing their time in the drama, and when it appears gives them a sense of comfort, a reminder that every detective is as prone to the errors of every human, every person, but in which their foible and particular oddity helps them understand the condition of the murderer they have set out to catch.
There is a theory that the larger the idiosyncrasy, the more cerebral the detective, and if the habit of cocaine taking and violin playing can produce the solution for the great Sherlock Holmes, if drinking beer at The Eagle and Child and The Head of The River can bring Endeavour Morse to the criminal’s nightmares, then breaking the fourth wall and the love of literature can inspire one of the great minds to make her mark on the armchair detectives minds.
The six-part series of Annika sees Nicola Walker, already a household favourite and consummate personality on screen, continue the role of DI Annika Strandhed from the radio series written by Nick Walker, and arguably delve deeper into the psyche of the former Norwegian detective as she takes on the role of the new lead detective in a marine homicide unit in Glasgow.
Where the radio series led with the idea of a single-handed play, the movement to television, burdened by the overwhelming expanse of options presented to the writer when offered the chance to expand upon the world around them, is flipped on its head by Nicola Walker’s Annika personally involving the television audience to be by her side, by the asides and anecdotes, the insight into the theme coupled with the literature she is reading at the time; and in this remarkable departure from the accepted norm, it becomes clear that Annika is no ordinary television detective.
Written once again by Nick Walker, alongside an episode each penned by Lucia Haynes and Frances Poet, Annika brings a sense of female eccentricity coupled with superb observational skills for her job, a wonderfully well performed characteristic which many have tried to capture but have not captured in the same daring way as Ms. Walker succeeds in framing, nor in which the company around her, including the talented Jamie Sives, Katie Leung, Ukwelu Roach, the excellent Silvie Furneaux, and the charming Paul McGann all excel in making this one hell of a debut series.
As radio host and political commentator, D.L. Hugely once said, “Every group has its idiosyncrasies, but at a certain point we all are human, and that is the point of a great television detective, they may have the peculiarity of insight, but it is that insight which gives them greater understanding of the human condition.
A terrific first series, like Ann Cleaves’ Shetland before it, an unexpected treasure unearthed.
Ian D. Hall