best British TV

Tag Archive: best British TV

Traces–You should be watching this smart Scottish forensic crime series

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March 2, 2022

Review by C.J. Bunce

In its second season, Scotland’s crime drama Traces is continuing down the path where other great British series have missed the mark. Unforgotten betrayed its heroine in its last season, loading on so much darkness, challenges, and losses, the writers let the forces of evil and real-life struggles beat down what was a superb, brilliant detective. Traces is challenging its two masterminds of mystery solving: Laura Fraser (A Knight’s Tale, Doctor Who, Breaking Bad)‘s arson expert and professor Sarah Gordon, and Jennifer Spence‘s (Supernatural, Continuum, Stargate, Tru Calling) equally brilliant professor and scientist sleuth Kathy Torrance. But in this series it’s the challenges that make its lead characters really shine.

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The One–Smart blend of British police procedural and science fiction nets a compelling first season on Netflix

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March 24, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

In our youths everyone at some point wonders if there is only the one person in the world that is the best match for each of us. “The one” is the subject of a new Netflix series from the UK now streaming called The One, a seriously good series that might sound like just another show about relationships and matchmaking. It’s certainly the hook, but what it delivers is actually a top-notch police procedural mixed with just enough science fiction and a great cast, the kind that could draw some comparisons to BBC’s Luther. Hannah Ware (Hitman: Agent 47, Oldboy) plays Rebecca Webb, one of the two discovers of technology using your DNA that can find the one person on earth that is guaranteed to be your best match. She becomes the CEO of the company that introduces it to the world. She’s driven, ambitious, intelligent, savvy, and ruthless. She’s also the series’ villain, and sure to be one of the best villains you’ll find on television this year.

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Traces–Forensic science solves a cold case in smart Scotland crime series

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February 21, 2021

Review by C.J. Bunce

In an age where television shows continue to be stretched into a bloated ten episodes, it’s refreshing to to find a six-episode series without the filler. One of those is the Scottish crime series Traces, a tightly, cleverly written story following a team of college forensic professors, scientists, and anthropologists and their work with the local Dundee, Scotland detective branch to solve crimes. The first season is a fictional account centered on the case of a woman who went missing during the real-life Tall Ships festival in Dundee in August 2001, whose body was later found in a shallow grave. The plot closely follows some of the more realistic and mysterious bits of any number of episodes of the true crime series Forensic Files, while working in some well-developed characters–enough to make for a compelling ongoing series. Fans of television from Great Britain are also near guaranteed to find several familiar faces from some of your favorite genre films and TV series along the way.

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