The Responder

The Responder is a British police drama television series set in Liverpool, written by former Merseyside Police officer Tony Schumacher, with as leading director and starring Martin Freeman, Adelayo Adedayo, Ian Hart, and MyAnna Buring. It aired on BBC One on 24 January 2022. Schumacher has said that the character has "a lot to do" with him and the struggles he faced as a police officer, but that the storyline is fictional.

In late March 2022, the show was renewed for a second series consisting of five episodes, which began airing on BBC One and BBC iPlayer on 5 May 2024. The second series marked the final acting performance of Bernard Hill, who died the day of its release.

Synopsis
Chris Carson is a police officer in a fictional constabulary covering Liverpool, who has been demoted from his position as an inspector and undertakes a series of night shifts in the city centre. Shots of him working are interspersed with scenes at therapy, at home, and with his mother in a nursing home. His partner is Rachel Hargreaves, an inexperienced and still idealistic officer who wants to play by the rules. Carl Sweeney is a mid-level drug dealer whose stash of cocaine has been stolen by Casey, a local drug addict.

Chris is trying to help Casey and in doing so crosses Carl. Other major characters include a naïve local man named Marco, who finds himself out of his depth.

Carson is a conflicted and compromised man, with somewhat divided loyalties, a desire to do good, but with a violent streak brought on by childhood trauma exacerbated by his experience in the police. He has been demoted from an inspector and is pursued by the officer responsible, whose motives may not be entirely honest, as part of a corruption probe. The effects of the job and Chris's mental state take a toll on his family.

Cast and characters
Main
 * Martin Freeman as Chris Carson
 * Adelayo Adedayo as Rachel Hargreaves, a probationary police officer
 * Warren Brown as Raymond Mullen, a demoted officer with an axe to grind
 * MyAnna Buring as Kate Carson, Chris's wife
 * Emily Fairn as Casey, a drug addict
 * Josh Finan as Marco, Casey's friend
 * Philip S. McGuinness as Ian, Carl's henchman
 * Mark Womack as Barry, Carl's henchman
 * Ian Hart as Carl Sweeney, a drug dealer
 * Rita Tushingham as June Carson, Chris's mother
 * Kerrie Hayes as Ellie Mullen, Raymond's wife and Kate's best friend
 * Faye McKeever as Jodie Sweeney, Carl's wife
 * David Bradley as Davey, a local homeless man
 * Christine Tremarco as Diane Gallagher, Greg's sister
 * Amaka Okafor as Deborah Barnes, Chris's boss
 * James Nelson-Joyce as Greg Gallagher, a drug lord

Recurring
 * Elizabeth Berrington as Lynne Renfrew, Chris's therapist
 * Philip Barantini as Steve, Rachel's boyfriend
 * Philip Whitchurch as Joe, Casey's grandfather
 * Romi Hyland-Rylands as Tilly Carson, Chris and Kate's daughter

Guest
 * Bernard Hill as Tom Carson
 * Victor McGuire as Trevor
 * Dominic Carter as Bernie Wilson
 * Matthew Cottle as Father Liam Neeson
 * Dave Hill as Billy
 * Sylvie Gatrill as Mary
 * Sonny Walker as Stevo Marsh
 * James Ledsham as Enno
 * Connor Dempsey as Kyle
 * David Ayres as Andy
 * Kieron Urquhart as Paul
 * Harry Burke as Liam

Release
The series premiered on BBC One on 24 January 2022. It aired in Australia in six episodes on SBS from 16 March 2022.

The series was shown by Canal Plus in France. In Australia, the first season aired on SBS TV and SBS On Demand.

The first episode was watched 6,164,000 times on iPlayer alone during 2022, making it the third most-viewed individual programme on the platform that year.

The original soundtrack, composed by Matthew Herbert, was released by Accidental Editions in March 2022 and includes eighteen tracks.

Critical response
, review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the series a 100% approval rating, with an average rating of 8.7/10, based on 15 reviews. The critics' consensus reads: "The Responder is unrelentingly dark and inescapably absorbing, with Martin Freeman's hangdog performance carrying the drama". On Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100, based on 9 reviews.