A new crime drama is set to take the BBC by storm tonight. The Responder stars Martin Freeman as beat cop Chris, who is trying to get through six night shifts in a row with a new partner in tow (played by The Bill’s Adelayo Adelayo) while also balancing a tumultuous personal life.
Each of the six episodes will take place over a single night shift. During a chat with RadioTimes.com and other press, the Sherlock actor discussed how things “escalate” for Chris after the first episode.
“It gets pretty bad [for Chris as the show goes on],” he explained. “It starts stressful and it escalates from there, really. He’s constantly trying to bring all these threads and strands in his life together, and he’s spinning a lot of heavy f**king plates, for sure.”
Freeman went on to explain that, though he hadn’t been “a copper” and didn’t want to be one, he thought Chris’s story would resonate with the audience.
“To a greater or lesser degree, everybody watching this show will be doing a similar thing. It might not be life and death, you might not be getting chased with a machete, but everyone at some point is going to be going, ‘F**king hell. How am I going to keep afloat?’ Everyone knows that. Everybody knows that feeling and you don’t have to be a police officer to feel it.”
The Responder is written by ex-police officer Tony Schumacher, who Freeman said “wanted to write a people drama” instead of a police drama.
“It’s a people drama, but just set in a specific job. Personally, I hope it gives people respect for the police, I really do, or respect at least for what individuals go through,” Freeman added.
“It goes without saying that there are some dodgy policemen, ‘course there are, but there are dodgy priests and teachers and actors, so it’s not unique to them. And I hope it just gives someone a tiny breath of, okay, maybe I’ll be slightly slower to judge them when you think they’re doing this stuff all the time.”
The pair also discussed the possibility of a second season ahead of the first one’s release.
“I’ll walk anywhere for a good script and this is a good team,” Freeman said. “I love the team. It’s beautifully produced so yeah, I hope to do it again.”
Schumacher agreed: “So if it happens, it might not, but if it did, it would be exciting just to see where we can take it.”
Additional reporting by Abby Robinson.
The Responder airs on BBC One tonight at 9pm. Check out what else is on with our TV Guide, or visit our Drama hub for all the latest news.