Lots of excellent crime shows have been popping up on the streaming services recently, inspiring us to write up our 12 great British crime shows on BBC iPlayer article. Of course, you can’t live on a BBC-only crime drama diet. Head to ITVX and you’ll find one of the most underrated British crime shows has reappeared. If you’ve never watched River, first broadcast in 2015, now’s the time!
Created by Abi Morgan, River is an unusual take on the crime genre but, for all its quirks, it stars actors who can easily be described as crime fiction royalty. In the titular role as DI John River is Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård as seen in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and who has an ominous noir-ish presence in Andor. Riding alongside him is co-star Nicola Walker as DS Jackie ‘Stevie’ Stevenson, River’s murdered partner, who’s with him all the time. Here, Walker’s character is similar to the one she plays in Unforgotten, only more whimsical. This is no bad thing.
Going up the ladder, Lesley Manville (Magpie and Moonflower Murders) plays their boss, DCI Chrissie Read, trying to deal with River’s obsession with Stevie’s murder. And down in the basement you’ll find Eddie Marsan (Ray Donovan, Sherlock Holmes) as the 19th century serial killer-cum-philosopher Thomas Neill Cream, who really did stalk the streets of Lambeth back in the 1880s, poisoning prostitutes and sporting a ridiculous moustache.
It’s also worth highlighting the performance of Adeel Akhtar as DS Ira King. He is effectively Stevie’s replacement as River’s partner – a tough position to be in, with River still so attached to her. Part Jewish, part Arab, he refers to himself as the Gaza Strip which makes nobody laugh, but the key is in the gentleness and sympathy with which he treats his new boss, who is clearly troubled. When River out of the blue announces that mosquitos have 47 teeth, King asks how they fit all that in their mouths…
River is desperate to solve Stevie’s murder. She was shot in the head by someone in a passing vehicle two weeks before the story begins, but she rides with River in his car, they go for burgers and sing karaoke together. He’ll chase down any lead he can find – to a fault. In each episode, he works a case that may or may not be related to the main one, and while he does so he sees other victims and speaks with them. The clues he finds are often oblique, but he assembles them then follows his intuition. He’s deeply committed to the families of the victims too. He feels their pain.
And that’s because it locks in with the guilt he experiences. Indeed, the programme is a study in guilt, grief and friendship, not to mention loneliness. River is a man out of synch with the modern world who has lost a dear friend. No television. No Spotify. Thousands of vinyl LPs. King tries to help him connect, and River’s police-appointed psychotherapist tries to understand how and why he keeps people in his head.
The London we see here is cold and unforgiving. It’s recent enough to have all the concrete, glass and steel of today’s metropolis. Trains and cars rush in all directions. People are atomised and anonymous. No wonder River feels unseen and closed off as he moves about. All the humanity in the programme comes through the characters and how they relate; the world around them seems in motion yet lifeless.
So yes, it’s a bleak atmosphere to find yourself in, evoking powerful emotions of sadness and unease, with sudden sparks of unexpected and quite odd humour. There’s a huge, huge twist when it comes to why Stevie was killed, which we build to across six hour-long episodes. Each of these will bring a tear to the eye, but it’s worth it. River is a real one-off and we recommend it.
