We’ve seen enough British police procedurals lately to know that they tend to hang on both the performance of the leading actor and how that …
We’ve seen enough British police procedurals lately to know that they tend to hang on both the performance of the leading actor and how that actor’s character is drawn. They’re not really ensembles, because the issues that main character is going through infiltrates every decision he or she makes on a case. In a new BritBox series, the main detective dominates so much, it’s hard to find any other character that doesn’t make us shrug. But is that enough? Opening Shot: A photo of a teenage girl in a school uniform. As we pull back, we hear “Brit, you’re going to be late! Britney, you need to be leaving now!” The Gist: We see Britney Hamil (Paige Green) walking to school in Edinburgh, trailed by two classmates who are bullying her. She walks past a white van, then suddenly disappears. An old man looks on. DI Ray Lennox (Dougray Scott) and his partner, Eddie Rodgers (Gordon Kennedy) get sent to a scene where two young French tourists are found naked, with belts around their necks. Rodgers assumes that they just died via kinky S&M play. But Lennox thinks the killings have the earmarks of a case he was on years ago, the Confectioner killings. But the case is handed to Dougie Gillman (Jamie Sives), who derisively calls “Froggy goes a-courtin’”. Rodgers is retiring to Florida, so Lennox is partnered up with just-promoted DS Amanda Drummond (Joanna Vanderham). They’re called to the scene of Britney Hamil’s disappearance. As they talk to her mother Angela (Emma Hartley-Miller) and try to figure out who might have taken her, Drummond promises Angela that they’ll find her, dredging up Lennox’s ire; you don’t make promises in cases like this. Drummond thinks he undermined her in front of Angela, for which he later apologizes.
