BACK on the BEAT

MARTIN FREEMAN on reprising his role as a crisis-stricken cop...

- SEAN MARLAND

THE RESPONDER NEW SUNDAY, 9PM, BBC1 DRAMA (BOX SET, BBC IPLAYER)

Martin Freeman takes a sip of tea as he reflects upon the journey he and The Responder's creator, Tony Schumacher, have been on since the police drama arrived on BBC1 two years ago.

With his portrayal of troubled Liverpool cop Chris Carson in the debut run garnering praise from critics and viewers alike, bringing the character back to life for a second series was no mean feat.

'I loved playing him, and the way people reacted to the first series was very gratifying,' says Martin, 52, as TV Times joins him at a beautiful London hotel on an April day for a chat. 'So we didn't want to rush the next one, because doing it in a way we wouldn't have been happy with would have been a terrible idea. Tony and I talked about it a lot, even when we weren't working together.'

Inspired by former Merseyside Police officer Tony's real-life experiences pounding the beat, the first five-part season followed embattled nightshift urgent-response cop Chris as his world fell apart under the weight of a crumbling marriage and the demands of his job.

As we rejoin the action six months on, Chris' wife, Kate (played by MyAnna Buring), has moved in with his colleague Raymond Mullen (Warren Brown), yet the thing that terrifies him most is the prospect of losing his young daughter, Tilly (Romi Hyland-Rylands).

There are also challenges brewing as Chris must seek out his estranged father, Tom (new cast signing Bernard Hill, see box, below right).

Meanwhile, on the work front, Chris agrees to do a favour for his old boss. However, he and his policing partner Rachel Hargreaves (Adelayo Adedayo) soon find themselves being dragged into another murky case, plus ghosts from Chris' past start to resurface.