Martin's Mersey beat

Martin Freeman is a Liverpool police officer on night patrol whose life is spinning out of control…

- SEAN MARLAND

NEW CRIME DRAMA

The Responder Mon & Tue, BBC1 HD, 9pm

Having starred in Sherlock and A Confession, Martin Freeman is no stranger to playing TV crime-solvers. But the BAFTA-winning actor breaks gritty new ground this week when he plays a frontline copper battling to hold his life together in BBC1 drama The Responder.

Created by first-time screenwriter and former police officer Tony Schumacher (see right), the five-part series follows urgent response officer Chris Carson – who’s been demoted from detective – as he answers a host of emergency calls while on night shifts in Liverpool.

However, with the stress of his demanding job overtaking him, his marriage crumbling and some dodgy criminal contacts catching up with him, Chris is struggling to keep his head above water.

‘Chris is a decent human being, but the challenges of doing a stressful job for so long have taken some of the shine off his character,’ explains Freeman. ‘He’s turning up at the worst times in people’s lives and that inevitably has an impact on him. He’s going through some serious stuff, but there’s a real mix of strength and vulnerability in him, which was one of the things I loved about the script.’

CRIMINAL PURSUIT

Teetering on the verge of a mental health crisis, Chris struggles to open up to his counsellor in the opening episode, before driving all over Liverpool at the behest of a local drug dealer, Carl Sweeney (Ian Hart).