BBC calls up The Responder for season two

FIRST LOOK: Martin Freeman and Adelayo Adedayo return to Liverpool for the second season of BBC drama The Responder, which will air later this year.

MyAnna Buring, Warren Brown, Josh Finan, Emily Fairn, Philip S McGuinness, Faye McKeever, Mark Womack and Amaka Okafor also reprise their roles.

Meanwhile, Adam Nagaitis, Bernard Hill and Ian Puleston-Davies join the cast for season two, which once again promises to hold a mirror up to the emotional extremes of life on the front line of British policing – sometimes darkly funny, sometimes painfully tragic and inevitably challenging.

Set six months after season one, seaosn two finds Chris Carson (Freeman) is attempting to rebuild his life, and his relationships, desperate to avoid the corruption that nearly sucked him under. He is trying to be a better police officer, a better man, and most importantly, a better father to his daughter Tilly. All whilst still dealing with the relentless trauma of being a night response officer. Chris wants a day job. Chris needs a day job. But is he prepared to risk everything to get one?

Rachel Hargreaves (Adedayo) is putting her life back together too. She’s still fuming at the way Chris broke her dreams of being a police officer and dragged her down with him into the dirt, and now she’s desperately trying to take control of a life and a career that sometimes feels like it’s slipping away. But after working with a succession of ‘normal’ coppers, Rachel is starting to realise she’s got more in common with Chris than she’d ever want to admit. As they are sucked back together, and into the night, they must pull each other back into the light. But then a routine stop on a black Range Rover changes everything, and suddenly, the darkness beckons once again.

Written by Tony Schumacher, it is produced by Dancing Ledge Productions. It is directed by Jeanette Nordahl, Mounia Akl, and Charlotte Regan, and the producer is Barrington Robinson.

Laurence Bowen, Chris Carey and Toby Bruce are executive producers for Dancing Ledge Productions. Rebecca Ferguson is the executive producer for the BBC.

Filming took place in 2023 in and around Liverpool with support from the Liverpool Film Office. Fremantle is handling global distribution for the series and is showcasing the series to international buyers as part of Fremantle Presents on March 1.

tagged in: Adelayo Adedayo, BBC, Dancing Ledge Productions, Fremantle, Martin Freeman, The Responder