After the Flood — Crime series ties up loose ends in second season

Review by C.J. Bunce

Ashes to Ashes, The Five, and Stay Close writer Mick Ford delivered a surprising;y good, atypical British police story in the first season of his series After the Flood back in 2024 (reviewed here). I’d found it’s greatest strength to be its refreshing, different approach to the police procedural/crime drama. It’s back on BritBox with another six-episode season that in many ways matches the intrigue of the first. Sophie Rundle (Shetland, The Bletchley Circle) plays series lead Joanna Marshall, proud daughter of a celebrated, deceased local cop who earns accolades this season for her police work in the first season story, which included rescuing a baby floating down a river in a flood–all while she was pregnant. The flood of the first season (and the title) is always there providing fuel for crime subplots, but the key drive of this season is her efforts to trap her boss boss Mackey, played by Nicholas Gleaves (Spider-Man: Far from Home), an outwardly charming but corrupt cop who has killed people and blackmailed nearly everyone into keeping their mouths shut about his exploits. If this season doesn’t catch up with the spirit of the first season it’s because it was stuck cleaning up the results of last year instead of moving ahead with its strong characters and talented cast.

All six second season episodes of ITV’s After the Flood are now streaming on BritBox.

The story returns to the the crafty and powerful men behind the corporations bypassing green space and ecological regulations in the small town of Waterside in Yorkshire. Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes star Philip Glenister’s Jack Radcliffe was shuttled out of town, losing all his investments and money last season, but he returns for one thing. That’s Molly, Joanna’s mother played by Lorraine Ashbourne (Bridgerton). “Moll” is the on-the-go woman about town this season just as she was in the last, everywhere and anywhere, whether she’s leading the ladies in a morning arctic plunge in the river or trying to clean up that river when she learns it has been polluted. My favorite part of this season is the efforts Jack makes to get back in Moll’s favor as she at first accepts and then rejects his advances. They make a great, loud, boisterous and fun couple, and hopefully a third season transpires to let this play out.

But Joanna is all about cleaning up the corruption, and to do that her cop ex-husband Pat Holman, played by Matt Stokoe (Grace) is there to help. Also the father of their daughter, Pat is willing to put his life on the line to get Mackey exposed for his crimes. Pat was complicit in at least one of Mackey’s schemes exposed last season, so once he testifies against Mackey that means Pat will likely land in jail, too. Corporate greed, political corruption, bent cops, and murder are front and center again. It’s just unfortunate that it’s all about last year’s greed, corruption, and murder. Tripti Tripuraneni (House of the Dragon) is back as cop Deepa Das, and Faye McKeever (Doctor Who) is back as sister-in-law Kelly–both are good to see again, but they just don’t get much to do.

The series maintains its mid-level mystery writing and storytelling, but the quaint setting and interesting characters could be better handled. Jill Halfpenny (Humans) enters the cast as DS Sam Bradley, Joanna’s new boss. The writers don’t hide from the viewers that DS Bradley is up to something, and she sure seems like she is partnering with Mackey to find some bad acts by Joanna before she gets to take down Mackey. Two new murders begin this season, but they take a backseat to Joanna’s concern for her career and maybe her life working for a boss with nothing to lose.

It gets even scarier for her because he freely comes into her mother’s home, because Moll and Mackey are still friends and neither she, Pat, or Jack have shared with her the extent of Mackey’s evil ways. It’s another season that saves the final episode to tie everything up. And now that that is done, hopefully a third season is greenlit by ITV to allow the characters to do something new. Rundle makes a good, determined police officer, so let’s see some scripts that show us how tough this cop really can be. All six second season episodes of ITV’s After the Flood are now streaming on BritBox along with the first season.

Catch up with our reviews of other quality British TV series (including Australian and New Zealand shows you’d find on PBS, BritBox, Acorn TV, and Hulu) beginning with our Top 10: Life on Mars/Ashes to Ashes, Zen, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?, Mr. Selfridge, Guilt, The IPCRESS File, The Hour, The Gentlemen, Black Doves, and Shetland—especially the first seasons. You could stay pretty busy with our full list of top British TV recommendations: Legends lands right here, then Deadloch, The Artful Dodger, Van Der Valk, the first season of Sherlock, Troppo, Case Histories, This is Going to Hurt, Black Snow, Mystery Road: Origin, Death Valley, Dept. Q, Bodkin, The Bletchley Circle, Good Cop/Bad Cop, Grace, Steeltown Murders, Hinterland, Glitch, Mystery Road, Culprits, Harrow, Annika, Young Sherlock, The Day of the Jackal, Code of Silence, Luther, Professor T, and Supacell.

After you’ve seen all of those, try Viva Blackpool, Marchlands, Lightfields, State of Play, After the Flood, I, Jack Wright, Population 11, Sunny Nights, Protection, Traces, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Scrublands, The Survivors, Ordeal by Innocence, Unforgotten, The Bay, Wild Bill, Quirke, Requiem, The Gloaming, The Clearing, The One, The Tourist, The Tower, Collateral, Roadkill, Stay Close, The Salisbury Poisonings, and A Confession.

Other British series across genres that are worth checking out (a few still to be reviewed here) include fun romps like Monarch of the Glen, Para Handy, Cranford, Viva Blackpool, and As Time Goes By, and cozy mysteries Rosemary and Thyme, Father Brown, Hetty Wainthropp, and Death in Paradise. One of the best of all British productions is the reboot of All Creatures Great and Small, which is in our British Top 10 (and the original is good, too). Of course there’s always Doctor Who for your sci-fi fix (and spin-offs Torchwood and Class), The Watch for your fantasy fix, Truth Seekers and Sea of Souls for your supernatural fix, and Spaced for more sci-fi fun, and we really should add House, MD, for Brit lead Hugh Laurie’s one-of-a-kind performance. (We’ve also reviewed but don’t heartily recommend so much Dublin Murders, The ABC Murders, The Pale Horse, Reef Break, The One That Got Away, The Silence, The Five, The Missing, Thirteen, or Broadchurch, as well as No Offence, which could have merited a review for its first season but, like Sherlock, its later episodes were a disappointment).