River - BBC1 Drama

[fuzzpig]

Yet another crime drama heading to our screens. I'm watching heaps of shows like this at the moment. Anyone else planning to watch?

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06jkmtf

I won't be watching live but will try to get on catch up ASAP. Looks intriguing.

Sadwidow River was meant to keep away form the case, but couldn't.

Here is an interview with the author which explains what is behind it all.

www.theguardian.com/media/2015/oct/06/bbc-drama-river-abi-morgan-explore-mental-health-issues

I really enjoyed it something different to watch im not sure they are ghosts but more his imagination but it was good I think the guy who appeared at the end is going to be scary

I thought when the woman with dementia said "I want to leave.", was very chilling. Her husband, one of those on the list, seems very controlling (as does the son with the beamer).

Also loved Hannah Gordon's cursing moment. I had to take my jaw off the floor, she's brilliant.

I'm enjoying this and can't wait until tomorrow night for the second part. The cast is superb.

Sorry, posted on the wrong thread! Will cut and paste, just ignore!

I enjoyed River as well, very unusual approach to the detective series.

Thanks for the reviews - I think I am getting it now. I will walk the dog and watch again to see if it hooks me the 2nd time round now that I am not struggling to figure out who is whom!

I'll report back later..................

Elendon I caught your message on the RIGHT thread and have responded. ROFL

fuzzpig i caught the episodes from the original Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) on tv in the 80s when they reran them during the school summer holidays.

Apparently the crew used to get nervous that the guy who played Randall would spill coffee on his suit during breaks in filming......as they only had the one white suit.

Who is the song by please - DH and I couldnt work it out.

Tina Charles, I love to love

But mm my baby just loves to dance!

Love that song.

I love it too

Managed to get to the end, but won't be watching the rest. Thought it was rubbish.

I've had that song stuck in my head all bleddy day.

Elendon what were you watching? sounds good!

Firefly, it's called the Unforgotten, ITV1 Thursday (tonight) at 9pm. It's on catchup.

i really like Stellan Skarsgård (copied and pasted yes) but thought this drama was completely daft will try and watch a bit more but it was hard work.

He would almost certainly have been on sick leave and definitely not allowed at the press conference! But I was completely hooked by the end. Loved the two mains,and thought the singing scene in the car was magic!

Okay folks, I watched it a 2nd time last night and it DID make more sense. I am not sure that it has hooked me though as I don't feel any empathy with River, and the 2 murders that are being investigated (Stevie and the young girl who hung herself) are really NOT taking precedence.

The character of Cream just seems OTT.

I might watch the 2nd episode next Tuesday just to see if it finally engages me.

If it was supposed to be seriously covering mental health issues and depression then it wouldn't have been all about ghosts and visions.
Severely depressed people may get psychotic depression and hear voices (in which case they wouldn't be at work and able to concentrate on complex ploce stuff) but they don't go around seeing lots of visions of dead people.
It's believable he occasionally sees a vision of Stevie who he was close to but not that he constantly sees her and also sees random other ghosts of people he's never met whose case he happens to be working on.
It's all just silly and definitely more about woo than accurately portraying mental illness in my view.

I gave up about 3/4 of the way through - couldn't get into it at all. But really looking forward to Unforgotten tomorrow night - I thought that was much better.

Agree, Unforgotten has no gimmickery just a good story. TV dramas don't have to be different and about "issues" they need above all else to have an engaging story, preferably one that doesn't move at a snail's pace.

I'm just rewatching this as I was too tired the first time! It's a bit Beautiful Mind with the psychotic episodes, interesting link above, thank you. Quite bleak, though. I feel I'm binge-watching with this, Unforgotten and From Darkness. I haven't watched much crime drama for a while and will try not to get too confused.

Presumably, this is trying to show psychosis from River's perspective. Interesting idea.

I just watched it and enjoyed it. I probably wouldn't if I thought too hard about it, but I tend to just watch things superficially IYSWIM, I need plenty of escapism at the moment. :o A Beautiful Mind is one of my favourite films.

I thought Nicola Walker was brilliant in this role. I normally associate her with the kind of character she's playing in Unforgotten and hadn't imagined her playing someone so quirky and funny and dead but she's versatile and nailed it.

So... did Riley kill her? They said the DNA matched on the car but...

fuzzpig I don't think Riley did kill Stevie. The fact that River has been told that the pregnant girlfriend is causing a fuss about the chase which led to his death suggests that River will have more guilt-ridden angst ghostly visitations from a 3rd person.

hey! I must have understood it 2nd time round.

Did he have visions before Stevie's death or has he always had them? Stevie's "manifest" (as he calls them) tells River that he always used to talk to himself, so maybe he did? Good to see you on here fuzzpig and sadwidow can you put all the clues in like the Unforgotten thread ?

I love crime drama, but am struggling with this one. All the angst and long shots of him doing nothing is just not grabbing me. Unforgotten is so much better.