The Red King

Grace, Anjli Mohindra, is a police sergeant transfered, as a punishment, to replace Guffud,Mark Lewis Jones, the recently retired sergeant on a remote island off the Welsh coast. She is in charge of the entire island force. That is her and a constable, Owen, played by James Bamford.

This series has obvious similarities to the classic film 'the Wicker Man' with a solitary outsider police officer and a local population unwelcoming to incomers, although in this case Grace does slowly get Owen on side in the investigation of a local boy who went missing a year previously. She conducts a search of the island and inevitably finds a body and challenges Guffud on his inept handling of the investigation when he was in charge.

Trying to get the truth from a population that all seem to be members of a weird cult and spend much of their time wearing strange masks. Full marks to Grace for taking up the challenge.

I enjoyed this series and found Anjili Mohindra a very engaging character and definitely wanted her to suceed.

Thoroughly enjoyed this show, you will get the wicker man vibes mixed with Hot Fuzz. Basically police sergeant forced out of her division due to whistle blowing on two other officers gets a new posting on a fictional Welsh island but the island has a secret. Coming to terms with a clearly weird populus she has to figure out the disappearance of a local child but uncovers much more. It will keep you guessing till the final episode and split your moral stance on what would you do in that situation. This had my wife and I gripped and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. The only thing that confused me is her last posting is in Newcastle and she's posted to St Jory a fictional island off the cost of Wales (shot in Cranstan, Alnwick Northumberland) which is reinforced with Jill Halfpenny turning up help with forensic investigation. Yet it seems Newcastle police have influence over this Welsh island and not say local Swansea police.

The set-up resembles 1973 British folk horror film The Wicker Man. But by Episode 2, you should have noticed that not all is the same. And things diverge from there.

I also found the 1973 film was spoiled by having Edward Woodward as the policeman. He was stamped on my mind as tough-guy Callan. It took time to realise that this was a very different sort of character. Not someone like Brownlow from The Bill, but fussy and pious. One reason why it was unpopular at the time.

Here, the police lady is quite tough, and shown to be a stickler for the rules. Sent to a bad posting from something that offended other police - just what comes out by stages.

Watch and enjoy.

Who needs originality! This has every cliché known to man - accept that and just enjoy this near fabulous entertainment.

The plot isn't too dissimilar to HOT FUZZ - a strait laced, by-the-book police officer is posted to an idyllic yet decidedly weird isolated community. It's populated by a collection of marvellously over the top stereotypes who seemingly all hate the new arrival. There's weird rituals, lots of thunder and lightning, the predictable sound of crows squawking in the fog and then we get the murder.

It's a complete rip-off of every spooky police story from WICKER MAN to SCOOBY DOO but it does it so well it's almost fabulous. The team behind this really know what they're doing and have essentially made "a best of" every quirky suspense tv show in the last twenty years.

Once you've finished moaning about the utter unoriginality of this you'll probably love it. Although completely formulaic, it's really professionally made to be entertaining. The acting is spot on and very naturalistic making this nonsense seem entirely believable. Super-gorgeous Anjli Mohindra plays the Simon Pegg type up tight police officer complete with the usual issues all police detectives seem to have in every other tv show. She tackles her crazily over complicated character with gusto and although she's a real pain in the bum, she's such a superb actress that you're immediately on her side.

The Red King: Very much a homage to The Wicker Man rather than a pastiche or a rip off. Sergeant Grace Narayan (Anjli Mohindra) is posted to the remote Welsh island St Jory after troubles in her Newcastle station where she was a whistleblower. Narayan is just as much by the rule book cop as Sergeant Neil Howie in The Wicker Man, it's not long before her inability to let anything pass has her at odds with many of the locals. And these are odd people, the island was once dominated by The True Way, a cult that carried out human sacrifices and worshiped Pagan Gods. That's all in the past thought, isn't it? When Narayan arrives there is a parade in progress, with the islanders masked up as they dance around tourists. Once the tourists have departed the cavorting locals stop and become sullen. The sergeant stays at The John Barleycorn inn, the landlady has a quirky daughter who takes more than a casual interest in Narayan, Then of course we have a missing youth, the islanders are generally silent about this. Things get stranger as the plot unfolds with murders and suicides, some violent gory scenes and a general feeling of unease infuses the story. The previous sergeant is still present and is obstructive. The Lady if the isle carries on as if it is her fiefdom. More of Narayan's back story is revealed and it looks as if a much wider conspiracy is at play. Everything which is happening might also be part of a ritual, Pagan motifs and imagery are ever present. A pretty good addition to the British Folk Horror TV Canon. Created & Written by Toby Whithouse, Directed by Daniel O'Hara. Six episodes on Alibi Channel. 8/10.