PHILIP SHAUN MCGUINNESS returns as Ian, SHAUN MASON is Ben, GINA FILLINGHAM is Shelly and PAULINE DANIELS is Betty in the new series. 

Two years ago, the former police officer and debut screenwriter Tony Schumacher gave us five of the most riveting and harrowing hours of television there have been for many years. The Responder was the story of Chris Carson (a career-best performance from Martin Freeman), a man slowly being driven to despair by the pressures of his job as a frontline officer answering emergency calls on night shift and the futility of trying to hold back the tide of crime perpetuated mostly by people who are desperate, destitute or mentally ill. “It’s like playing whack-a-mole,” he said. “Except the moles wear trackies. Every night, there’s blood on my boots and spit on my face and it never, ever stops.”

Now, Chris is back in that rarest of things: a second season that feels earned by the quality of what went before and also unforced.