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River - BBC1 Drama

291 replies

fuzzpig · 12/10/2015 21:36

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.

OP posts:
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sadwidow28 · 28/10/2015 11:11

emotionsecho

I really didn't take to Cream (the Lambeth Poisoner) at first. It all felt very OTT. But last night, I finally understood his dramatic purpose - to explain the dark/worst side of River to us (the audience).

Even the sub-plots have 'twists' that are unpredictable.

  • the young girl found hung (was a suicide pact that her boyfriend backed out of at the last minute)
  • Jordan (married for 18 years) was killed accidentally by his homosexual lover.
MrsJayy · 28/10/2015 11:20

The lambeth poisoner tried to frame other people for his crimes (just saying)

iwantavuvezela · 28/10/2015 11:26

Loving this series, didn't think I would, but think he is perfectly cast. The sub plots are good, and keeping the suspense and intrigue going with Stevie. uNder darkness (the other cop drama) pales next to this.

Fiderer · 28/10/2015 11:32
Lottapianos · 28/10/2015 11:41

Agree, great episode. I'm so intrigued by the nature of his relationship with Stevie - he is so utterly bereft and broken by her death. The look on his face when he saw the CCTV of her with the other man was pure jealousy. There's a lot more to find out.

Stellan Skarsgard is so incredibly brilliant in this. I found episode one so affecting, the way that he portrayed all the different aspects of grief - blankness and shock and isolation and anger and so much more. It was very moving to see some joy and spontaneity breaking through when he was left alone with the baby. I believe in his character completely. Also loving Lesley Manville as Chrissy and Adeel Akhtar as Ira.

The80sweregreat · 28/10/2015 11:42

Mrs jay, yes its a twist for sure. Poor River, he didnt know her at all did he? I like his sidekick, his baby was so sweet.
Eddie marsen, Rivers dark side, is a terrific actor.

Fiderer · 28/10/2015 11:45

The Globe looks amazing.

Not so keen on the psychiatrist tbh.

MrsJayy · 28/10/2015 11:48

Not sure what the phsycatrist is up to something fishy about her . Federer hold the chilli sauce im not keen.

MrsJayy · 28/10/2015 11:50

I meant to say i cant post live i would miss bits dh was arsing about on his ipad last night and was missing bits was doing me in with his "whos that" what did they say.

RadeGhoul · 28/10/2015 12:07

I really really really hope River isn't implicated in her murder...

sadwidow28 · 28/10/2015 12:13

MrsJayy

I also sometimes miss parts of the dialogue so always watch the episode twice. The 2nd time I also have another site open which gives a transcript of the episode.

I don't know how they get the transcription up so fast, but it is really helpful.

Here is Last night's transcription. Give it to your DH Grin

Transription of River, Episode 3

emotionsecho · 28/10/2015 13:37

sadwidow28 thanks, that's what I thought about Cream after the episode last night, but now I'm wondering why him and when did River start seeing him!

I think there is an awful lot of trauma in River's past that we don't yet know about which has impacted the way he is now.

I"m really hoping the psychiatrist is not up to something fishy as he has now agreed to trust her, that would be a bit drama 101 and too predictable for me.

River is certainly one of the most interesting characters we've had in a drama for a long time.

One thing though, to the posters who said Stevie was shot in the back of the head, the way I looked at the CCTV she was shot by someone in the car coming towards her and she hit the front wing of the car as she fell. I thought she was shot from the front and the bullet exploded out of the back of her head.

quirkychick · 28/10/2015 14:55

OK, I have watched on catch up, now.

I, too, love Ira, he is perfect for River. Gentle but somehow guiding him along.

I think future psychiatrist sessions may bring up more about his past and what else is he forgetting? In ep 2 (I think) Stevie tells him to tell the police what they talked about in the Chinese. He's remembered that she gave him the money for Frankie, but not what they discussed, presumably it's relevant.

The themes of the crimes River has been looking into is really interesting too. What about Riley's girlfriend's other man (forgot the name!) seeing someone drop off the car but not seeing who they were. Who was that? The man from the CCTV footage?

He shut Cream out of his flat before Bridie came round, is that him getting rid of him, denying that part of him?

cherrytree63 · 28/10/2015 15:10

I'm really enjoying this, steadily paced drama that I can follow, and finding the main three characters so likeable. I laughed (too hard, as I've recently had major surgery) at Ira's impression of River.
I think the sex chat line is something to do with whatever Stevie was working on, not something personal, and that the guy in the CCTV is someone she was investigating.
I hope we find out if Tia kept her baby or not.

quirkychick · 28/10/2015 15:28

Yy, cherrytree, unlike From Darkness which went from agonisingly slow to rushed-and-you-missed-why-it-happened. Love the steady piecing together of parts of Stevie's life.

It seems unlikely that someone who turned their back on their criminal family so spectacularly would be involved in something criminal themselves. The cctv footage shows her with hands on the man's face, intimate and familiar but not necessarily sexual. Not sure why she would not involve River, maybe to protect him somehow. She was obviously more streetwise than him.

MrsJayy · 28/10/2015 15:40

He was reading a book about cream in the first episode maybe that is why it stuck. Stevie investigating the chat line makes sense River puts words into her mouth so when she said she was bored that was just him jumping to conclusions

PeppaWellington · 28/10/2015 15:43

Cream - n the first episode, when he's introduced to Ira I think, River shows he's reading a biography of Cream. Hence Cream is inside River's head. Cream, as well as blaming his crimes on others, was also a blackmailer. Was River blackmailing Stevie?

I think there is more to the kebab place. It was a secret phone Stevie used to contact her estranged, criminal brother, a sex chat line and order kebabs?! The kebab order seems incongruous unless she ordered from there on her other phone. She would have gone there to collect her takeaway, or had deliveries....of what? Was she dodgy, was she investigating something privately (her brother? River?) had she a crush on the kebab shop owner, or did she just really like kebabs? Grin

Nicola Walker was an utter revelation in Sue Perkins' sitcom as a hippy/eccentric friend of SP's. Love her, totally underrated in her versatility.

sadwidow28 · 28/10/2015 16:18

There are 4 phone numbers on Stevie's 2nd secret mobile phone:

  • Frankie Stevenson (estranged, criminal brother) called 4 times in the first few weeks of October. Last called 6.15pm the night of October 21st [the night she was killed]
  • a sex chat line (user ID Pussycat5)
  • Crystal Kebabs - called 19 times in 7 weeks [CCTV around Crystal Kebabs shows she was driven there in the blue Mondeo, stepped outside of the passenger side and had that intimate shot with the unknown black guy]
  • An unknown/unregistered PAYG - still to be identified

I am beginning to wonder if Stevie was working under-cover for the police/secret services. Nobody must know - not even River, Chrissie Read or MacDonald. That would explain her over-time and using police vehicles 'after hours'. It would also explain the £10,000 she gave to River for Frankie (in case anything happened to her).

Questions

  • Was she in so deep that she phoned Frankie (brother) to help her - but changed her mind about the meet-up so she didn't drag him into it?
  • Is she working a honey-trap with the Sex-chat line?
  • Could the Crystal Kebabs be the central hub of what is 'going down'?
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fuzzpig · 28/10/2015 17:03

I feel so sad after watching the third episode! :(

That psychiatrist could do much better than the police bloke. IMO. She's annoyingly beautiful :o

Small correction sad - the estranged brother is Jimmy, not Frankie. Frankie is the younger one, can't remember if he's got much criminal history as well but it was Jimmy that Stevie put in prison for 16ish years. Good call about her wanting Jimmy to help, though - maybe to get someone hounding her off her back?

OP posts:
PeppaWellington · 28/10/2015 18:31

Maybe unknown guy works at kebab place - would explain frequency of calls - and maybe unknown payg phone is his......

I reckon Crystal Kebabs is relevant. Presumably it's not on her other phone, I'm assuming some cross referencing has been going on. Maybe something linking them to the sex chat line.

She might just have called her brother when she was drunk and then regretted it? He's a bit obvious for it to really involve him too deeply. I will be disappointed if it turns out it was him what dunnit.

colleysmill · 28/10/2015 18:41

We've been watching and I was sure I thought I heard Stevie say to River in a brief moment "did you think you were the only one?" After he'd seen the footage of her and the other chap together?

Or did I completely imagine that!!!!!

cherrytree63 · 28/10/2015 18:55

Colley she did say that. But I think that's River projecting his jealousy(?) concern...

cherrytree63 · 28/10/2015 19:02

Now this is totally irrelevant observation, but you know when River went to buy a TV in episode 1? Normally, in a TV shop, all the TVs are tuned into the same channel, and, obviously playing the same programme. But in that shop, although all the TVs were showing a wildlife programme with flamingos (or were they storks) they were showing different clips.
I doubt that it's a clue Grin

Inkanta · 28/10/2015 19:20

Mmm - on the subject of this psychiatrist - (and yes she is too annoying pretty), she was having a date with that chief inspector who River doesn't seem to like, and there was dark foreboding music when River saw him? Can she be trusted?

PollyGone · 28/10/2015 21:37

All I keep seeing when Cream appears, is Terry, from Ray Donovan.