Yahoo News The inspiration behind gripping new BBC drama The Responder
Martin Freeman is playing a one-man good cop/bad cop in new BBC crime drama The Responder.
The Sherlock star leads the cast as PC Chris Carson, a bobby on the beat trying to get through five days of night shifts around a rough Liverpool estate.
His conscience and the line between right and wrong begin to blur, however, when things start to go awry, and soon Carson is on a sink-or-swim survival mission.
But how exactly was this gripping story created? Are the realistic and flawed characters works of fiction, or based on something far more real?
Is The Responder a true story?
While the series is undoubtedly grounded in realism, The Responder is not completely a true story, but it is inspired by real life. Tony Schumacher, who created the series, has direct experience of the life of a responder.
"In some way I feel that I am The Responder to a degree and that this is my story," he said of the show. "I was a police responder who was out in the rain at one o'clock in the morning, two in the morning, three in the morning, chasing people up and down alleyways and running over rats."
Much like Chris Carson, Schumacher admits the work of a responder started taking its toll over the years, eventually leading him to leave his line of work.
"I quit the police because, and there's no getting away from it, I was cracking up in the police force," he said. "And I had this overwhelming urge to write. I was really struggling mentally and I needed to get away and find myself but I also needed to buy dog food during that period so I became a taxi driver. It was during that time that I learnt to become a writer.
"I wrote three books, sold them to Harper Collins and they did okay. That allowed me to step out of the cab, with a slight detour via a garbage dump, to become a full-time writer on the back of the books.”
When does The Responder air?
The Responder launches Monday, January 24 at 9pm on BBC One, with episode two following at the same time on Tuesday. After that, the rest of the episodes will air on back to back days the following week.
All episodes will be available on BBC iPlayer after air. If you want to watch outside of the UK, unfortunately there have been no announcements regarding international distribution.
The Responder airs on BBC One.
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