US streaming service Acorn TV has acquired Suspects !
Series 1 and 2 will premiere on 22 Feb!
ACORN TV’s New, Unscripted British Crime Drama
SUSPECTS, SERIES 1 & 2
MAKE U.S. PREMIERE BEGINNING MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2016
Innovative, gritty new police drama offers viewers a unique ‘insider’ feel
Silver Spring, MD – Far from your conventional cop show, Emmy®-nominated Acorn TV features the U.S. Premiere of the “unnervingly true-to-life” (The Telegraph) crime drama Suspects, Series 1 & 2 beginning Monday, February 22, 2016. Suspects offers a fresh and original British procedural crime drama set in London that tackles difficult subjects with gritty authenticity. Filmed in the style of a fly-on-the-wall documentary, the series relies on the cast to develop their own dialogue, creating a uniquely realistic tone. Single episodes are shot in two and a half days with a scene being captured in as little as 18 minutes. Series 1 features five episodes and will be added on Monday, February 22, while Series 2 features four episodes and will be added the following week on Monday, February 29. Available at Acorn.TV and on a variety of devices, Acorn TV is the premier streaming service for world-class television from Britain and beyond from RLJ Entertainment (NASDAQ: RLJE).
Fay Ripley (Cold Feet, New Tricks, Reggie Perrin), Damien Molony (Being Human, Ripper Street) and Clare-Hope Ashitey (Children of Men, Top Boy) star as East London CID officers. Each episode tells a self-contained crime story. Starting with a news report about the crime, follow the team of detectives as they investigate the circumstances, collect forensics from the crime scene, analyze the evidence, and interview their suspects – until they finally identify and charge the perpetrator.
The crimes are hard-hitting and contemporary ranging from the abduction of a young boy by a pedophile ring, and a brutal hammer assault on a man in his own home, to the hunt for a serial rapist. The team also investigates the source of a batch of deadly drugs, an attempted murder disguised as assisted suicide and the disappearance of a two-year-old child.
Distributed by Fremantle Media International, Suspects has been airing on the U.K.’s Channel 5 since 2014. Series 3 and 4 aired in 2015 and it’s scheduled to return for Series 5 in 2016.
Well that is excellent news! I don't know what Acorn TV is, if it's a channel available through the cable companies or if it's something regional, but YAY for Suspects hitting the States!
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papillon... pamplemousse... bibliothèque... un baiser A lilt in his voice. Every sentence like music... #kisskisskiss A terrible beauty is born. Love me some #Jacksass
A quick Google search tells me that Acorn TV is a subscription streaming/on demand service specifically for British Television. Their speciality is to offer British shows beyond what usually makes it on BBCA and PBS Masterpiece Theatre. Before streaming became a thing, they'd been importing British DVD's and related merchandise for 20 years. So, sounds like a haven for Anglophiles, and an alternative to something like what I do which is to use a VPN and stream directly from British Channel websites. Looks like you sign up with a monthly fee and can stream on any device.
So, still a niche market, but a very nice start to DaMo globalization...
I can put all this info in the international viewing options topic.
papillon... pamplemousse... bibliothèque... un baiser A lilt in his voice. Every sentence like music... #kisskisskiss A terrible beauty is born. Love me some #Jacksass
A quick Google search tells me that Acorn TV is a subscription streaming/on demand service specifically for British Television. Their speciality is to offer British shows beyond what usually makes it on BBCA and PBS Masterpiece Theatre. Before streaming became a thing, they'd been importing British DVD's and related merchandise for 20 years. So, sounds like a haven for Anglophiles, and an alternative to something like what I do which is to use a VPN and stream directly from British Channel websites. Looks like you sign up with a monthly fee and can stream on any device.
So, still a niche market, but a very nice start to DaMo globalization...
I can put all this info in the international viewing options topic.
You might think there are only so many ways to tell a police drama, until TV shows like Suspects prove different. Suspects, a British series that arrives on American television screens Monday courtesy of Acorn TV, sets itself apart because all its dialogue is improvised. Yup. All of it. To fit the mood and style, it’s also framed in a documentary style. Scenes look as if they were shot on hand-held video cameras or pulled from closed-circuit TV, the kind you find in an interrogation room or on the wall behind the counter at convenience stores. Yes, there’s considerable risk here. Suspects could just end up looking gimmicky, like other shows that have dabbled in these techniques. There’s an even greater danger that in a given episode or scene, all that improvised dialogue just won’t work, like a Saturday Night Live sketch gone bad. That does happen sometimes. The fact the scenes don’t all look polished is fine, because that’s the point, but there are times when the dialogue meanders and falls out of the flow of the story. The good news is that most of the time it all holds together. Between the real-time feel of the filming and the skill of the actors at blending in with their characters, Suspects more often than not feels fresh and different in a good way. The actors make credible cops whose cases naturally all seem to have sensational elements: 2-year-olds missing and apparently murdered, pedophiles killing to cover their crimes, that sort of thing.
The three main characters are Detective Constable Charlotte “Charlie” Steele and Detective Sergeant Jack Weston and Detective Inspector Martha Bellamy (Damien Molony and Clare-Hope Ashley, top, with Fay Ripley, left).
Martha runs the East London precinct where Suspects is set. She didn’t get to that position by showcasing her soft side. Jack and Charlie are smart street cops with a few flaws and insecurities, though we see very little of their private lives. Suspects focuses on the police aspects of the story and that’s a good decision, because it keeps the show moving at a fast clip. It also enables the actors to focus their improv attention on the cases and not have to wonder when they need to break off and insert something from their childhood or their relationships. Acorn rolls out the first season of Suspects on Monday, with the second season following on Feb. 29. Seasons three and four have also already aired in the U.K., with season five scheduled this year. This being British TV, a “season” is a relatively brief affair. Season one is five episodes, each playing as a self-contained procedural, while season two is four episodes with a serialized story that runs through all four. Remaining seasons are also four episodes each. Acorn TV, which specializes in bringing dramas from the U.K. and other foreign lands to America, is available through www.acorntv.com as a subscription service offering a wide range of dramas, comedies, historical series and other overseas production.
The Acorn TV service starts streaming “Suspects” today. Acclaimed in the U.K., this series presents a documentary take on the criminal procedural, offering viewers a “fly on the wall” perspective on a case, from its first report to resolution. The harrowing premiere involves a case of a child abducted from a dysfunctional home filled with possible suspects.
While many confuse “documentary”-style dramas with “reality” TV, “Suspects” ignores the outsized personalities of that genre. “Suspects” puts the accent on the ongoing procedure, dispensing with the melodramatic elements of character backstory that are the heart of American crime dramas.
This all-business approach may not appeal to everyone, but “Suspects” is wonderfully shot and edited. It would not have been possible in another era, before the advent of tiny unobtrusive cameras and the emergence of London as the capital of a surveillance state.
The NY Times (inaccurately) compares it to Law and Order and kind of back handedly compliments aspects of the 'reportedly' improv and Claire and Damien for their performances.
A gripping new police procedural following three London detectives as they move through crime investigation, arrests and follow-up called Suspects moves well, the stories are consistently interesting and the gritty feel is real and natural.
And guess what? The actors improvise.
They’re given scene beats and goals and go from there, furthering the narrative in character and as part of the ensemble. The result is raw and real, and it creates a naturalistic world. Much of each episode is focussed on the narrowing down to the criminal based on information from others, from learned histories of police work, psychology, and some intuition.
Each of the detectives operates in his own way, bringing particular gifts to the mix, enhancing the work. There are occasional crossed wires between them but the organic working body is formed by a strong sense of duty and teamwork.
Episodes are shot over two day periods and according to Acorn, some scenes have been shot in single takes in just 18 minutes. It’s an experiment in television that has paid off; it’s well worth a 2 Season binge.
Great all the love Suspects is receiving from publications over here! I wonder if they have any viewing figures? Makes me happy to think of more Americans discovering Damien for the first time.
I read that NY times article last week and they really were unfairly critical. Wrapping their criticism in a sort of back handed compliment made me mad. How they could consider the friendly banter between the leads forced is beyond me. (I think that's the word they used) Those bits were the best parts, funny and natural! Although I completely agree that the office policing scenes, like when they are gathered around the board and ONLY the three leads talk while everyone else just sort of looks busy, isn't convincing. You know, I'm hoping the fact that S5 listing so many more recurring police will address that. Make it more believable.
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papillon... pamplemousse... bibliothèque... un baiser A lilt in his voice. Every sentence like music... #kisskisskiss A terrible beauty is born. Love me some #Jacksass
Exclusive U.S. Premieres: Suspects, Series 3 & 4 (Monday, June 6) "Refreshing and innovative…all the acting was sterling" –The Telegraph Acorn TV's unscripted British detective drama returns with eight new episodes starring Fay Ripley (Cold Feet), Damien Molony(Being Human, Ripper Street), and Clare-Hope Ashitey(Children of Men). Filmed from an eyewitness perspective with improvised dialogue, this one-of-a-kind procedural delivers an immersive, authentic look at police investigations. (8 episodes)