Series 2 of Annika gives us lots of good Nicola Walker moments
“There’s always someone watching”
I wasn’t necessarily blown away by the first series of Annika, a perfectly serviceable crime drama in a sea of perfectly serviceable crime drama across multiple TV channels (this one lives on Alibi). What it does have going in its favour is Nicola Walker in its lead role of Annika Strandhed, and a fourth-wall-breaking Nicola Walker at that, her frequently confiding inner feelings into the camera and using a book of the week format to help break the case of the week.
It might sound a bit odd but in this second season, it really does work well. There’s no particular rhyme or reason to the literary inspiration – 1984, The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde and King Lear all pop up here – but such is the pleasure of Walker’s conversational ease that it is just a delight to feel that you’re in on a secret with her through this direct delivery. There’s also a good deal of wit in the way it is used too (“is this mic on…”?!).
As a crime procedural, Nick Walker’s drama still isn’t particularly stand-out special. There’s a little less pushing of the Marine Homicide Unit narrative which was its USP but which also means there’s more flexibility in the cases that the team takes on. We get to go to the Hebrides, Highland eco-resort and Glasgow’s canal network among other places and there’s a midseries switch in personnel as Ukweli Roach’s DS Clarke sadly leaves to be replaced by Varada Sethi’s DS Weston.
What this series does also do, in a manner which surprised me in how effective it was, is blend in more of the personal drama. The revelation that Annika’s second-in-command (a shaggy Jamie Sives) is actually the father of her teenage daughter is thoughtfully played out, the return of Paul McGann as sexy therapist Jake is much welcomed and the arrival of Sven Henriksen as her Norwegian father Magnus really shakes things up – I need Series 3 now!!
