TV Review: ‘Inspector Ellis’

Last November, Acorn TV released a new UK crime drama called Inspector Ellis. The story focuses on Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Ellis (Olivier Award-Winner Sharon D. Clarke), who takes over failing investigations at different police stations. The situations pose some difficulty because of prejudices—she is a Black female cop—and workplace politics. But she also contends with other problems: namely, the danger of trails running cold, and more humorously, no computer access.

Ellis takes it all in stride and pushes on with the high-stakes investigations assigned to her by Assistant Chief Constable Alison Leighton (Allison Harding). Each episode introduces us to a different location, corresponding with the titles Hanmore, Callorwell and Brindleton.

Ellis begins on her own, but soon meets Detective Sergeant Chet Harper (Andrew Gower), who already works at Hanmore. Their initial meeting is awkward, but Ellis finds Harper more amusing than annoying. The younger detective proves eager to help and do good police work on a case where a young man has been murdered and a young woman is still missing. After some internal conflict, Harper decides to fully support Ellis rather than his regular boss.

On the Cases

While “Hanmore” excels at introducing Ellis and showing how she takes charge, it’s an uneven episode. We nearly get lost in the weeds as Ellis and Harper chase down details where the officers skipped steps earlier. Ellis exclaims in exasperation against the missing girl’s stepfather (Michael Wildman) about all the time wasted by his lying. The momentum finally builds only after the first 70 minutes, but it’s a thrilling conclusion worth the wait.

When “Callorwell” opens, Team Ellis is official. Ellis and Harper arrive to help find a missing detective named Jenny Lawler (Jenny Kavanagh). Everything feels wrong about the station. There’s a sexual harassment claim pending, and most of Lawler’s coworkers don’t appear concerned that she’s gone. “I don’t know who I can trust on your force,” Ellis even tells one station supervisor.

For Ellis and Harper, getting answers from Lawler’s male colleagues and superiors is much like pulling teeth. They find some support from a forensics specialist (Kirsten Forster), one of Lawler’s officemates (Aoibheann McCann), and a friend at the nearby hospital (Stephanie Levi-John). Ellis even meets with local drug baron Carla Duffy (Orla Charlton) to fill in missing pieces to the story.

In “Brindleton,” Ellis and Harper investigate the disappearance of a pair of young newlyweds. Perhaps they slipped off some rocks and into the river, but the police can’t find their bodies. Interestingly, DCI Cotton (Amanda Drew) and her second-in-command DS Archie Dent (Josh Bolt) genuinely welcome Ellis and Harper’s assistance. Ellis’ headache in this case isn’t workplace dysfunction, but the horde of social media influencers trying to investigate the disappearance.

Final Thoughts

While I found “Hanmore” to be plodding and a bit forced in some parts, I liked the moments where it established Ellis’ no-nonsense demeanor and personality. Clarke adeptly portrayed those moments for Ellis with a firm and measured tone, marking a contrast with the angry station leadership. And that made verbal economy a very powerful weapon in the scenes, giving Ellis the upper hand. Clarke lets viewers see Ellis’ good side little by little, as her character starts to relax around Harper and she displays empathy for witnesses and victims.

Overall, Inspector Ellis starts on firm footing and has many of the ingredients to do very well in future seasons. Every station has its difficulties that Ellis needs to sort out. There are a lot of twists and turns in the gritty mysteries to keep you guessing until the final minutes. “Callorwell” provided an intriguing discussion between Ellis and Duffy; even though Ellis is standing in Duffy’s territory, she’s not afraid at all.

It was fun to see some faces familiar from other UK dramas appearing in this show, especially in “Brindleton.” Josh Bolt from Last Tango in Halifax is convincing as younger cop DS Dent trying to sharpen his skills, pairing off well with Gower’s DS Harper. And Rina Mahoney, who played a tragic mother in The Bay, is entertaining to see as an aspiring true crime podcaster who really gets on Ellis’ nerves.

Don’t miss Inspector Ellis on Acorn TV.