Since Broadchurch<\/a> sailed onto the TV scene back in 2013, few coastal detective dramas have managed to outflank it despite their earnest attempts to recreate David Tennant and Olivia Colman\u2019s electric chemistry, the scenic seaside setting and its BAFTA-winning twists and turns \u2013 and initially, I thought The Long Call<\/a> had fallen victim to the same curse.<\/p>\n The upcoming ITV drama, which is based on Vera<\/a> author Ann Cleeves\u2019s novel of the same name, stars Our Girl\u2019s Ben Aldridge as Matthew Venn, a detective who moves back to his North Devon hometown with his husband ahead of his father\u2019s funeral. It\u2019s only when he starts investigating the murder of a mysterious local with a criminal record alongside DS Jen Rafferty (Pearl Mackie) that he begins to confront his strict upbringing and the religious community he grew up in.<\/p>\n On the face of it, The Long Call appears to tick a lot of the Broadchurch-wannabe boxes. A dead body found on the beach \u2013 check. A small, tight-knit town on the seaside \u2013 check. A lead detective with a complicated family past \u2013 check.\u00a0However, as the first episode very slowly unwinds, the drama begins to stray from the predictable path laid out in front of it, into rich, exciting and potential unmarked territory.<\/p>\n The series opens with Matthew being comforted by his supportive husband Jonathan (Declan Bennett), before gatecrashing the funeral of his late father and being turned away by his cold mother Dorothy (played by the excellent Juliet Stevenson). \u201cYou know the worldly aren\u2019t supposed to mourn with us. You made your choice when you left us, Matthew,\u201d she scolds, returning to the procession as Matthew tries to stifle sobs.<\/p>\n We soon learn that Matthew grew up in a \u201ccult\u201d, as his colleague Jen describes it, alongside a community of hardline Evangelical Christians who would berate him for watching TV at friends\u2019 houses, thought being gay was sinful and eventually cast him out aged 19 for declaring that he no longer believed.<\/p>\n Matthew is called to the scene of a murder and after getting through a bit of shoe-horned exposition (\u201cFuneral was it? Anyone close?\u201d Jen asks, a bit insensitively in my opinion), the team start looking into the murder of Simon Walton, a jobless alcoholic who\u2019d moved to Barum Brethren after killing a young girl in a drunk driving accident.<\/p> With Ben Aldridge shining as the complicated DI Matthew and Doctor Who<\/a> star Pearl Mackie showing off her versatility as detective sergeant and single mother Jen, The Long Call explores complex themes around sexuality and religion, with Matthew\u2019s personal life being more intriguing than the actual murder in the first half of episode one.<\/p>\n However, despite the clunky dialogue and the paint-by-numbers murder mystery that initially appears to be playing out,\u00a0the drama takes a huge turn in the final quarter, veering into a direction that was so surprising and interest-piquing that it added an extra star onto this review.<\/p>\n While The Long Call gets off to a glacially slow start, it\u2019s worth sticking with for Aldridge\u2019s impressive turn as British TV\u2019s first gay male detective, the intriguing backstory around the potentially sinister \u201ccult\u201d community and an ending that\u2019ll hook and completely reel you in.<\/p>\n The Long Call airs on Monday 25th October at 9pm on ITV. Visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0to see what\u2019s on tonight,\u00a0or check out the rest of our\u00a0Drama<\/a>\u00a0coverage.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Lauren Morris Published: Monday, 25 October 2021 at 12:00 am 4.0 out of 5 star rating Since Broadchurch sailed onto the TV scene back in 2013, few coastal detective dramas have managed to outflank it despite their earnest attempts to recreate David Tennant and Olivia Colman\u2019s electric chemistry, the scenic seaside setting and its […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":6238,"template":"","categories":[5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/the-long-call-episode-1-review-a-slow-starting-seaside-drama-thatll-hook-you-by-the-end.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/the-long-call-episode-1-review-a-slow-starting-seaside-drama-thatll-hook-you-by-the-end-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/the-long-call-episode-1-review-a-slow-starting-seaside-drama-thatll-hook-you-by-the-end-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/the-long-call-episode-1-review-a-slow-starting-seaside-drama-thatll-hook-you-by-the-end.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/the-long-call-episode-1-review-a-slow-starting-seaside-drama-thatll-hook-you-by-the-end.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/the-long-call-episode-1-review-a-slow-starting-seaside-drama-thatll-hook-you-by-the-end.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/10\/the-long-call-episode-1-review-a-slow-starting-seaside-drama-thatll-hook-you-by-the-end.jpg",620,413,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Lauren Morris Published: Monday, 25 October 2021 at 12:00 am 4.0 out of 5 star rating Since Broadchurch sailed onto the TV scene back in 2013, few coastal detective dramas have managed to outflank it despite their earnest attempts to recreate David Tennant and Olivia Colman\u2019s electric chemistry, the scenic seaside setting and its…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/6237"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\""The\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/10\/the_long_call_episode1_52-15013f6.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"the-long-call-itv-review\"\\"\/")
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