Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Eve Myles, Babou Ceesay, Hermoine Corfield, Vicki Pepperdine, Dipo Ola, Kris Marshall, Babirya Bukilwa, Sharlene Whyte, Neil Stuke, Nigel Harman, Freya Durkan, Steffan Rhodri, Ayomidun Odunaiya, Anaya Beckford-Cole, Kate Dobson, Sylvie Erskine, Anthony Shuster, Perry Fitzpatrick, Kamare Abraham, Michael Bertenshaw, James Redmond.
We fear the murderer in our midst with quite rightful concern, the image of the lone slayer is one that frequents crime novels and the news with ever increasing abundance. From the insatiable to the silent and the patient killer, our screens are filled with the character to whom we see in our nightmares, whose figure is one to whom our own personal Grim Reaper leaves us dreading making their acquaintance.
We Hunt Together is the fear personified of one to whom murder is a thrill, to whom it is an act of retribution and opportunity but who requires the assistance of someone else to leave the mark of death upon the skin. Murderers who pursue in pairs leave an unfathomable edge of concern, the sense of need is alarming, the feeding off each other’s emotions is uncomfortable to the right-thinking person, and yet we embrace the show they leave in their wake, the amateur psychologist takes control from the armchair detective and leads the calls for such people in a co-dependent surge of righteous killing to be further studied and explored.
Much praise must be laid at the door of Hermoine Corfield in her chilling portrayal of the manipulative Freddy Lane. The scale of her character’s cunning, revenge filled, and damaged mind is such that she immediately brings the viewer’s attention to imagine the worst, to see elements in those women to whom the traits of various killers, or those that urge others to commit the crime in their name, have lurked in the background to the more pre-dominant men who have committed such atrocities alone, or in pairs.
Hermoine Corfield plays the part with such conviction that when she is joined in the scenes by the ever-reliable Eve Myles, as the unravelled DS Lola Franks, and the revelation of Babou Ceesay as DI Jackson Mendy, the spark is fascinating, the dynamic is full of bravado and sheer insanity.
With great performances by Dipo Ola as Freddy’s new-found friend, Neil Stuke as the helpless Darren Cork, and Kris Marshall in a role that leaves just enough doubt of Freddy’s memory and convictions, the first series of We Hunt Together is one of compelling and disturbing truth and drama.
Ian D. Hall