Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Nicola Walker, Jamie Sives, Katie Leung, Silvie Furneaux, Ukweli Roach, Katie Dickie, Paul McGann, Varada Sethu, Taylor Goodwin, Sven Henriksen, Rebecca Root.

The art of the aside in theatre is a tribute to the writer’s immense skill to break the fourth wall in such a way that the silence on stage is filled with a cacophony of stunned appreciation. It is not so much the secret being revealed or the information shared for the audience’s elucidation, but for the truth that dare not be spoken to those who share the scene; and when this ability is taken to its next logical step on television, it highlights the weight of the unvarnished conscious at play; unhindered by the crowded thoughts of others who will only derail the investigation of the self-analysis.

That self-analysis is one that greatly enhances what is already a tremendously written and driven police drama, and as Annika flourishes in its second series, so the way the tales and life of a quirky, intelligent, Detective Inspector encapsulates the ideal of a drama being held together by the solidity of its cast and the off-beat way in which the crime is solved, is one of a particularly satisfying note.

It is a testament and authority of Nicola Walker’s presence on screen, aided by a superb cast that includes Jamie Sives, Paul McGann, and Silvie Furneaux, that the ability to weave in what may seem to be an obscure fact regarding a piece of literature, can frame the narrative of investigation so well. Indeed, it could be argued that the aside monologues to the armchair detective at home are as vital to the progression of the case as any clue subtly placed before their eyes.

Annika’s second series is one of fury and love, of secrets expanded, and of realisations found, and it is to the climax of the series that the experiences of all comes to the boil, and wonderfully frustrating edge of your seats understanding that sometimes family, loved ones, are just as capable as committing a crime as those you wouldn’t look at twice on the street.

Glasgow and the wider Scotland environment are framed by the demonstratable anguish and belief of the calm rage that employs the necessity of the use of water as a backdrop to the series, the gentleness that beckons you in on the surface soon gives way to the torrent of trepidation and alarm the further you progress, and it is glorious, it is divine.

A smashing series, television detective drama at its best, and one for the ages.

Ian D. Hall