Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Tim Roth, Genevieve O’Reilly, Abigail Lawrie, Tanya Moodie, Kerrie Hayes, Joanne Whalley, Ian Hart, Neve McIntosh, Andrew Schofield, Neil Fitzmaurice, Lindzi Germain, Michael Starke, John McGrellis, Emma Bispham, Leanne Best, Percelle Ascot, Kaitlyn Akinpelumi, Julia Carlile, Warren Donnelly, Mark Womack.

Every story has a beginning, every action has its initial spur, and the roads taken don’t lead to Rome, nor do they really lead anywhere else…except back to Liverpool, the place which Jung called “The pool of life”, and for Jack, Angela and Anne, Liverpool is the one place where they should never go back to, where the roads are not paved with gold, but with regret, fear, and the damage inflicted.

If every story has a beginning, then for Jack Worth it is a tale of violence and lies, not necessarily by him, but certainly by those to whom the line between the law and criminal action, of those to be dealt with if he, his wife, and the woman he sees as his daughter, are to have peace.

When the original first series of Tin Star ended on such a dramatic note, it would have been surely unthought of at the time that the road taken would lead to resurrection, of a family at war with itself being able to put their differences aside and returning to the one place on Earth where they were likely to die, even with all that they had originally faced, the damage caused by the actions of the former undercover detective as he tore into other people’s lives.

Such endings though are merely teasers in the modern age, one series was never going to be enough, and in Tin Star: Liverpool, the third and final part of the trilogy, neatly, almost, wraps up the story of the Worth’s with many a dead body surfacing and the stench of corruption revealed.

It would be easy to sing the praises of Tim Roth, Genevieve O’ Reilly and Abigail Lawrie as the members of the Worth family, it would also be an expected glib response to compliment the producers and directors in their absolute passionate belief of showcasing the city of Liverpool and the surrounding towns and sights on Merseyside and The Wirral, such as New Brighton and Haydock, as one in which to understand the drama unfolding and the sense of beauty and history that is involved in the plot; however, it is in the insistence of the team as whole to showcase some of the acting talent that the city provides to which is the biggest thrill in watching the six part series.

Whilst not every actor in Liverpool could have been in the series, the fact that you have Neil Fitzmaurice, Andrew Schofield, Michael Starke, Kerrie Hayes, Lindzi Germain, John McGrellis, Leanne Best and the magnificent Ian Hart involved in some or all of the action, is testament to the hard hitting and indisputable fact, that Liverpool is the city of creation and the creative.

Tin Star: Liverpool is a reminder to see the world through the cracks and dents of the beauty you see every day, that what sparkles in the sunlight can hide a multitude of sins to which you are not privy, but to which you must be ready to recognise, and act against.

Gritty, demanding, and the black humour to support it fully, Tin Star: Liverpool can be seen as a highlight of television that has been ravaged by the curse of 2020. 

Ian D. Hall