(2019)
Created and written by Kevin Cecil, Andy Riley
Starring Matt Berry, Freddie Fox, Susan Wokoma, Alun Armstrong, Paul Kaye, Ann Mitchell
IMDB Entry
I've been a fan of Matt Berry for some time, even since I stumbled across Snuff Box several years ago. He has a great comic persona for being bombastic and very obscene, but always funny. So when I found Year of the Rabbit, I was delighted to discover he was its star.
The show is set in Victorian London. Detective Inspector Eli Rabbit (Matt Berry) is charged with trying to find a killer of young girls. Chief Inspector Wisbech (Alun Armstrong) assigns him to the case, along with a naive young assistant, sergeant Strauss (Freddy Fox). At the same time, Wisbech's adopted daughter Mable (Susan Wokoma) gets on the case as part of her desire to be the force's first woman police officer.
The investigation leads to plots, while Detective Inspector Tanner (Paul Kaye) is out to destroy Rabbit for reasons that are eventually revealed, but more recently because he blames Rabbit for him getting blown up by a bomb. A mysterious woman named Lydia (Keeley Hawes) is definitely someone to worry about. Rabbit is helped by John Merrick (David Dawson),* who is the leader of many criminal enterprises, and by Gwendoline (Ann Mitchell), who runs the pub where Rabbit drinks.
The show is an interesting combination of cop show and comedy. Matt Berry is a typical version of his usual character. He seems to have written much of his own dialog. Berry has been in several shows, some of which are documented in this blog. but up until now, with What We Do in the Shadows, did not run for very long.
I was also delighted to see Susan Wokoma. I first noticed her strong appearance in Crazyhead and she is great as the somewhat commonly seen role of a woman who's trying to survive in a man's world. Freddy Fox projects the right amount of naivety as Strauss.
The portrayal of John Merrick is interesting. Usually he's shown as a sad figure, as he was in real life. Here, he's strong, capable, and devious.
There was a second season announced, but it hasn't shown up.
Chuck Rothman is author of The Cadaver Princess, a hidden historical fantasy about magic events that fit in with historical fact.
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* aka, the Elephant Man
