![]() ![]() This being British TV, a “season” is a relatively brief affair. Seasons three and four have also already aired in the U.K., with season five scheduled this year. It also enables the actors to focus their improv attention on the cases and not have to wonder when they need to break off and insert something from their childhood or their relationships.Īcorn rolls out the first season of Suspects on Monday, with the second season following on Feb. Suspects focuses on the police aspects of the story and that’s a good decision, because it keeps the show moving at a fast clip. ![]() Jack and Charlie are smart street cops with a few flaws and insecurities, though we see very little of their private lives. She didn’t get to that position by showcasing her soft side. ![]() Martha runs the East London precinct where Suspects is set. The three main characters are Detective Constable Charlotte “Charlie” Steele and Detective Sergeant Jack Weston and Detective Inspector Martha Bellamy (Damien Molony and Clare-Hope Ashley, top, with Fay Ripley, left). The actors make credible cops whose cases naturally all seem to have sensational elements: 2-year-olds missing and apparently murdered, pedophiles killing to cover their crimes, that sort of thing. Between the real-time feel of the filming and the skill of the actors at blending in with their characters, Suspects more often than not feels fresh and different in a good way. The good news is that most of the time it all holds together. The fact the scenes don’t all look polished is fine, because that’s the point, but there are times when the dialogue meanders and falls out of the flow of the story. There’s an even greater danger that in a given episode or scene, all that improvised dialogue just won’t work, like a Saturday Night Live sketch gone bad. Suspects could just end up looking gimmicky, like other shows that have dabbled in these techniques. Scenes look as if they were shot on hand-held video cameras or pulled from closed-circuit TV, the kind you find in an interrogation room or on the wall behind the counter at convenience stores. To fit the mood and style, it’s also framed in a documentary style. Suspects, a British series that arrives on American television screens Monday courtesy of Acorn TV, sets itself apart because all its dialogue is improvised. You might think there are only so many ways to tell a police drama, until TV shows like Suspects prove different. ![]()
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