The Responder

:

Season 1
  • Network: BritBox
  • Series Premiere Date: May 24, 2022
Season #: 2, 1
Metascore
87

Universal acclaim - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7

Critic Reviews

  1. The Times
    Reviewed by: Carol Midgley
    Dec 2, 2022
    100
    Electrifying. ... A bleak but knockout piece of drama, which shows that Freeman is an actor of extraordinary range.
  2. The Guardian
    Reviewed by: Lucy Mangan
    Dec 2, 2022
    100
    An astoundingly tough, vigorous, sinewy thing without a wasted word or moment. Freeman – who must have fallen on it like a hungry dog – does every bit of it justice. ... The Responder is as fast and riveting as a thriller and as harrowing as a documentary.
  3. Radio Times
    Reviewed by: David Craig
    Dec 2, 2022
    100
    This is a phenomenal cast across the board, taking Schumacher's superb scripts and propelling them to even greater heights.
  5. The Telegraph
    Reviewed by: Anita Singh
    Dec 2, 2022
    100
    Freeman, though, absolutely bosses this role. ... It’s an accomplished script for a debut writer, with a plot that is never predictable. The supporting cast is uniformly good.
  6. Decider
    Reviewed by: Joel Keller
    Dec 2, 2022
    80
    If the only reason why you watch The Responder is to see Martin Freeman barely hold it together, then it’s a pretty good reason to watch the show. The rest of the plot is incidental to a performance by Freeman that utilizes all of his copious ability to be the aggrieved everyman who’s ready to crack at any moment.
  7. i
    Reviewed by: Ed Power
    Dec 2, 2022
    80
    Shot almost entirely after dark and populated with outcasts, losers and broken souls, The Responder could have been 60 minutes of misery. Instead, it was a reminder that Jed Mercurio doesn’t have a monopoly on crime drama that gets under your skin.
  8. The Independent
    Reviewed by: Sean O'Grady
    Dec 2, 2022
    60
    The drama is very much dominated by Freeman, almost everyone else acting as mere feeders for his trademark mannerisms. That is, apart from the formidable Rita Tushingham in a cameo as his old mam.