In this newest drama from PBS, Nicola Walker stars as the dry-witted leader of a Glasgow Marine Homicide Unit. She juggles her work life with a rebellious teenage daughter, while confiding her thoughts to the viewers in an unconventional fourth-wall breaking format.
Annika Strandhed and her team are tasked with investigating the unexplained, brutal and seemingly unfathomable murders that wash up in Scotland's waterways.
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Annika Season 1 is a new crime series starring Nicola Walker as the dry-witted head of Glasgow's Marine Homicide Unit. Adapted from the successful BBC Radio 4 drama of the same name, the 6-episode series follows a sharp and witty DI Annika Strandhed as she juggles baffling cases and a rebellious daughter.
She assembles her team to solve murders that are linked to the water around Glasgow in this crime drama based on Nick Walker's award-winning Radio 4 series. The forensic brains of the MHU, DC Blair Ferguson (Katie Leung, Harry Potter, Roadkill) and DS Michael McAndrews (Jamie Sives, Guilt, Crime), work alongside Annika as she tackles a string of unexplained, brutal and seemingly unfathomable murders.
The first case that Annika juggles is a murder that looks like an elaborate whale hunt gone wrong. As she attempts to connect it to the playwright Ibsen, she also tries to figure out a way to save her teenage daughter from being mixed up with suspects in a revenge slaying.
While she's solving the case, she's surrounded by her team, which includes her old colleague and resentful DS Michael McAndrews. She also has her own teenage daughter, Morgan (Blair Ferguson), who she takes more than a parental interest in.
Throughout the series, Annika breaks the fourth wall to speak directly to her audience, sharing wry observations about her case and her life. It's a refreshing approach that's unlike other detective dramas. It's an excellent choice for anyone who loves murder mysteries and values realistic portrayals of characters.
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Nicola Walker is returning to television after leaving the BBC's Unforgotten in an Alibi police procedural called Annika. The former star of the radio drama has taken on the role of DI Annika Strandhed, who heads up Scotland's Marine Homicide Unit (MHU), a team tasked with investigating unexplained murders by the sea.
Walker's character is a single parent and the show focuses on her relationship with her daughter Morgan, who has moved from Norway to Scotland in order to join her. As Annika tries to settle into her new job and her new family, she uncovers bodies throughout the country's waterways.
She and her team delve into their Nordic history, literature and even their feelings about the subject to try and find the killers. There are some genuinely fascinating moments, such as when Annika and the team discover a murder victim on a boat that had a Norse rune pattern carved in it. But the show is prone to breaking its fourth wall by Annika discussing literature, Nordic history or her feelings on some topic, which feels like it's a time filler rather than a natural part of the story.
In the first episode, Annika and her team investigate a murder in which a man has been killed by a harpoon. After learning that the murderer is a tour boat owner, Annika and her team attempt to solve the crime.
The murderer's baffling behavior while alive adds to the confusion, and there are a number of obstacles for the MHU to overcome. But as things get more complicated, a new team member (Jamie Sives) arrives on board the MHU to help Annika.
Annika and her team soon uncover a grizzly murder that has an obvious connection to one of Ibsen's play plots. A homicide on an idyllic island village makes the MHU wonder if it's a better environment for Morgan. The therapist she packs her off to also becomes an important player in the case.
Unlike its predecessors, Annika in us is more of a light-hearted detective series than it's a serious one. It isn't as witty or complex as Shetland or Unforgotten, but its cast is good and Walker has a natural charisma that helps elevate this show above the genre norms. It's a little clumsy at times, but it is still very entertaining to watch.
Annika is the latest crime series from Unforgotten alumna Nicola Walker. She's been starring in the radio version of Annika Stranded for several years, and now she's coming to TV with this witty, sharp and enigmatic show.
As an enigmatic and sarcastic head of Glasgow's Marine Homicide Unit, Annika Strandhed (Walker) juggles baffling murder cases with her rebellious teenage daughter Morgan, and she makes a point of breaking the fourth wall to speak directly to the audience, a rare move for detective dramas. The first episode is a case that involves the discovery of a harpoon victim, who's later identified as the owner of a whale-watching boat.
It's a case that seems straight out of Agatha Christie, Trainspotting or Shetland, and it gets even more complicated when the MHU ends up in a small island village. As the gang works to solve the mystery of the harpoon victim, unsettling details start destroying lives around them.
The first episode sees a murder victim surrounded by stones with Norse runes on a drifting boat, and the team soon discovers that the harpoon victim was not alone in this situation. He was the son of a local businessman who had been caught up in a controversy in which a woman passenger had drowned.
There's a little more to this one than you might expect, with references to mythology, literature and other reference points. Ultimately, it's an intelligent and referential show that doesn't feel like it's trying to be too hard on the viewers.
Annika's teen daughter Morgan is also an interesting character, and she comes across as bratty at times, but not as much as some of the other teens we've seen in crime shows. She's a bit anxious about her life and the safety of her mother, but she also comes around and congratulates her mother on a job well done.
DS Michael McAndrews, who's worked alongside Annika in her previous job at the police station, is another intriguing character. He resents being passed over for the DI job but performs at full throttle as Annika's second-in-command.