The Responder

I don't particularly like Martin Freeman, apparently he's a bit of a diva but have to compliment him on his Scouse accent, I can't stand people trying to copy the accent. My OH worked with the ex bobby who wrote this drama and some of it was filmed on a site where my son works. After watching the second episode I'm looking forward to the rest.

Mumofthree

I loved After Life, too. Only Ricky Gervaise could get away with it!

Lilypops

I am quite enjoying this drama and have got used to the swearing every other word, MF is excellent as the troubled cop, and life for some is like this once on the downward spiral of drugs and homelessness,
It makes me very thankful for what I have and that none of my family have ever been involved in drugs,
I didn’t understand why Carl the baddie who was always threatening Chris (MF). Was calmly drinking coffee in the kitchen with Chris,s wife and she was,not frightened of him ,
Can anyone explain this ?

I think Carl and Chris grew up together. He said in the car "I've known him for 40years," so the wife just thinks they are old friends. I would question the fact that she was ignorant about Carl's criminal activities. Even if she didn't know exact details Chris would have told her not to mention him to other cops. And I've worked in schools where the local criminals were known to the entire community, not just the police.

I'm not sure about it. Was a lot of bad language which bothers DH, me not so much. Will watch next episode I think. DSil is police and he has been off with PTSD following several sad shouts where he has been first responder to cardiac arrests. Can't go into them but he is back at work and PTSD counselling hasn't happened yet and he says nothing has changed. They are short staffed and people taking early retirement. He is not in a city and for TV obviously everything is exaggerated but the characters so far he says resemble what police encounter in every town in the country. It's a hard job. Agree LtEve - reality shows would not pick up what is really discussed off camera though I've not personally heard any paramedics swear like that in my encounters with them as a nurse.

Maggiemaybe

CTM saccharine, Callistemon? A nurse pulled off a homeless man’s shoe last week and his gangrenous foot came off with it!

Oh yes!

I decided not to watch having read through this thread the overall feeling about it seemed to be negative. My husband watched it on I Player last night and said it was very good, so don't know whether I should invest the time in it now or not

Decisions, decisions eh TerriBull!
I’m going to start watching it tonight on catch up.

Perhaps I should watch it again and concentrate next time so I have more than half a clue about what is going on, instead of trying to sort out a tricky bit of craft at the same time!

Maybe you should report back Urmstongran I think I need a few more positives after all how can I take the opinion of my other half when I get comments flung out such as "Oh God not another bake off"--occasionally he has a point though--

Callistemon, I only give my all to a programme if it draws me in, otherwise I'm doing something else too, faffing around on GN for example it's called multi tasking !

it's called multi tasking !

Obviously I'm not as good at it as the archetypal woman as I missed what was going on half the time, it was dark and mumbly as well.
Just like the other violent series starting on ITV, dark, indistinct, mumbly.

Must Try Harder

The only thing is TerriBull we’d have to put our books down. ...
?

I can’t multitask Calli. Sometimes I don’t even uni task very well.

Urmstongran

The only thing is TerriBull we’d have to put our books down. ...
?

After reading through this thread I think I will pick my book up instead.

The other problem is that I need to go to YouKnowWhere or an alternative one.

We stuck with it for first episode but did not enjoy it. Will not be tuning in to other episodes. So much violence and drug abuse everywhere on news- I do not wish to view it for pleasure.

Since the first Lockdown, i've only been able to watch positive, uplifting drama and so much of drama on TV these days is "dark and gritty", and downright depressing. I know that we need to know how awful life can be for some but ultimately it's supposed to be about entertainment too (and the best kind of learning comes with also being entertained). Something like Happy Valley was very dark BUT it also had strong characters and funny moments to stop it being totally depressing. I did watch the first episode of Responders on the iPlayer but much earlier in the evening, and then watched something funny after it, so I didn't go to bed feeling down. Thought Martin Freeman was fantastic, but the dark camera work and mumbling got to me; plus it was so unrelentingly depressing that I found myself wondering why on earth I was spending my precious time on it. Not sure I'll watch anymore.

Stuck it out to the end, but no desire to see the next episodes. Not bothered by the language, just found it depressing and boring.

I didn't enjoy it but I was gripped. It's appalling what drugs do to people. I shall watch the whole series.

Yet another relentless, dark, depressing BBC production.
We are watching re run of The Vicar of Dibley. Now there was a brilliant comedy series. Up lifting and just what we all desperately need at the moment.

I’m watching it, big edgy and different. I’m persevering, but it’s not as good as Trigger-point or The Tourist...

I am deaf (so obviously unaware of which regional dialect) and always have subtitles as a setting on my tv, why was everyone called LAD, talk about overuse of the word LAD every 5 minutes, but even with subtitles I wondered what was going on and if they were even speaking English, is this how the younger generation really speak nowadays? Like a foreign language! yes and the OTT swearing, but Martin Freeman was amazing!

Depressing and full of bad language. I may be old fashion in that respect but for me it’s an off-switch job. We watched ‘Trigger Point’ and didn’t particularly notice any swearing in that. There may have been some but if there was it was minimal.

I went on a train journey at the weekend. We were sitting by a group of young men (footie fans) and every other word was f*****g. My daughter went up to them ‘Guys, we have a young girl (age 10) with us so would you mind…..’ at this point she was interrupted by one of them ‘Oh! Yes, sorry!’ and not another wrong word from them! Maybe we should all speak up more?

Stuck with it after a dismal first episode and do think the storyline is picking up, so will stay with it now.

I wasn’t keen on the first episode of The Responder but thought I’d plough on and found the second episode gripping, but as people have said it’s all in the dark - perhaps cause he’s working the night shift.
The Tourist was great til the last two episodes where it went a bit weird which was disappointing.

I have not read all the posts here but the first page were all pretty negative, which is a shame as people are missing a good yarn, despite the darkness and language (obviously in my opinion).

I am really bad at understanding most accents (and additionally, many programmes seem badly recorded) so often have the subtitles on. If you haven't tried this aid, one quickly becomes used to them and they really are helpful.

As to the programme itself, I am enjoying the way it is developing and Martin Freeman is excellent as a good man weaving his way through the underbelly of society that I am pretty sure few of us on GN have had contact with.

Do give the programme another try but with subtitles - and thank goodness for your lot!