Fans of Annika have been ecstatic at the news that it’s returning to the BBC this week, after a long old wait (about two years!) since the second season originally premiered on U&Alibi.
The tonally-unique crime series centres on the work of the Marine Homicide Unit in Glasgow, investigating the unexplained against the backdrop of Scotland’s beautiful coastline. Nicola Walker stars as the lead, DI Annika Strandhed, and much has been made about her magnetic performance, which marks one of the particular standout ingredients of the popular show. Through Chewing Gum and Fleabag-style breaking of the fourth wall, Walker’s Strandhed manages to capture the imagination in a whole other way.
“Walker’s ability to flesh out the emotions lurking beneath self-consciousness and awkwardness makes the first-person conceit of Annika not just tolerable but apt and engaging,” wrote the New York Times of its second season. “What is strong about this series is the dynamic between Strandhed and her colleague DS Michael McAndrews,” said The Times UK (via Rotten Tomatoes).
Meanwhile the audience seems largely in agreement (via IMDb), with one fan writing that Annika “benefits from the presence of Nicola Walker, who is absolutely marvellous as the central character”, and another adding: “I have liked everything I have seen Nicola Walker in and this is no exception…”
BBC
While we’re not here to put a downer on Annika, which has its own place within the crime drama genre and many merits all of its own, we wanted to highlight Nicola Walker’s very best detective role – the iconic DCI Cassie Stuart.
In its 10 years on screen, ITV’s Unforgotten has become a staple – and that’s largely down to the groundwork laid by Walker’s Stuart in the first four seasons, a brilliantly complex and savvy lead detective who stood out a mile in a sea of male counterparts.
She is a piece of a puzzle that can be credited along with the OG Jessica Fletcher, Helen Mirren’s Detective Jane Tennison, Happy Valley’s Sergeant Catherine Cawood (played by the formidable Sarah Lancashire) Anna Friel’s Detective Marcella and of course The Fall’s Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson (Gillian Anderson) as part of an emergence of layered, complicated and powerful female detectives. They each paved the way for others to make their mark. Karen Pirie, we’re looking at you.
ITV
Related: 6 of the best UK police dramas, for fans who loved Dept Q
Cassie Stuart’s heartfelt personal friendship with DC Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) was a notable way of exploring more of Stuart’s depth, while her role as his mentor allowed her to flex just how capable she really was in the work place. They had a mutual respect for one another and, most importantly, Stuart was never upstaged or pushed into anybody else’s shadow. It was through her that the audience navigated its way through the beats of the story.
That being said, Khan proved a vital and multidimensional character in his own right too, such was the brilliance of the show’s writing. So much so, that he became the through-line in later seasons of Unforgotten, after Stuart’s brutal and heartbreaking exit.
Many questioned whether the show could go on without Nicola Walker, but Sinéad Keenan was soon announced as the new DCI, Jessica James. She had a big hole to fill, but Keenan’s performance carved out a new space within the same show, one that propelled the drama forward with a slightly different feel. And isn’t this in itself an important take away, that we shouldn’t be pitting women against one another? There’s space for all at the table.
As a crime show, Unforgotten, created and written by Chris Lang, couldn’t be more different than Annika in both tone and storytelling – and again, there’s certainly room for both.
But if you’re a huge fan of Annika and you’ve not yet had the pleasure of watching Nicola Walker’s beloved cold case drama for ITV, we’d urge you towards your next binge watch. As well as sitting on ITVX as a boxset, it’s also available on Netflix and Disney Plus.
You won’t regret it.
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TV Editor, Digital Spy Laura has been watching television for over 30 years and professionally writing about entertainment for almost 10 of those. Â Previously at LOOK and now heading up the TV desk at the UK’s biggest TV and movies site Digital Spy, Laura has helped steer conversations around some of the most popular shows on the box. Laura has appeared on Channel 5 News and radio to talk viewing habits and TV recommendations. Â As well as putting her nerd-level Buffy knowledge to good use during an IRL meet with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Laura also once had afternoon tea with One Direction, has sat around the fire pit of the Love Island villa, spoken to Sir David Attenborough about the world’s oceans and even interviewed Rylan from inside the Big Brother house (housemate status, forever pending).Â