In a sentenceWe expected to worry about a missing daughter, not half the supporting cast as well
Nelson “Nelly” Rowe (Lennie James) searches for his daughter and is determined not to stop until he finds her. Around that search, the drama follows a wider group of characters, including Claire McGory (Suranne Jones), Fabio “Melon” Melonzola (Stephen Graham) and Tam (Jason Flemyng). DS Shola O’Halloran (Nadine Marshall) is also part of the story. The six-episode first series follows Nelly’s pursuit of his daughter, with the mystery unfolding alongside the experiences of the people drawn into it.
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Lennie James gives Save Me the human weight its missing-daughter premise needs. Some of the mystery feels familiar, but the patient character work and Suranne Jones’s restraint make this a series we recommend warmly.
Save Me is a compelling crime drama with a familiar mystery and people worth spending time with. Nelson “Nelly” Rowe is searching for his daughter, and Lennie James makes that determination convincing without letting it become the only thing we notice about him. The danger with this sort of story is that concern for the missing daughter does all the work of keeping us interested. Here, the adults sustain our attention too, even when the plotting offers less to surprise us.
Lennie James created the series and writes alongside Daniel Fajemisin-Duncan and Marlon Smith. His performance has the variety that a long search needs: Nelly does not feel like a man reduced to a single urgent feeling. We can understand his determination without feeling that understanding him is a finished job. That is also the strength of the ensemble, which includes Stephen Graham as Fabio “Melon” Melonzola and Jason Flemyng as Tam. The supporting characters remain interesting even when our immediate concern is Nelly.
Suranne Jones gives the drama another reason to hold our attention. Her restrained performance as Claire McGory moved us more than we expected, precisely because the grief is not presented as a demonstration of how much an actor can do. We felt that distress without needing it underlined. This quieter approach is particularly valuable in a story where the subject matter could so easily encourage everyone to compete at suffering.
Nick Murphy directs, with cinematography by Chas Bain and production design by Melanie Allen. The series is strongest when it gives the ensemble room, and its attention to people feels proportionate to the attention it gives the mystery. That may sound a modest virtue, but crime dramas can be strangely impatient with anyone who cannot supply an answer. Here, the supporting roles have enough substance for us to take an interest beyond their immediate usefulness to the search.
Oral Norrie Ottey is the editor, while Bryan Senti and Dustin O’Halloran provide the music. The balance between an urgent search and patient character work is difficult, and for much of the series it holds. The actors give the drama its most persuasive emotional weight, and the six-episode first series has room to let our concern spread beyond Nelly. We want the search to advance, but the programme earns much of the time it spends attending to the surrounding characters.
The reservation is that the mystery does not always feel as particular as the characters. Familiar crime-drama patterns are still recognisable, and during those stretches the writing has to work harder to keep the search personal. That stops Save Me being a recommendation for anyone who needs a crime series to keep inventing new ways of wrong-footing them. We recommend it warmly to those who can accept some familiar plotting in return for sustained attention to people. Give the quieter performances as much attention as the search itself.
The critic finds the series dark, compelling and difficult to stop watching. She particularly praises Lennie James’s performance and the story’s fresh, poignant take on bereaved parenthood.
Read the full review →Greene finds Season 2 an excellent, patient mystery that deepens the series’ character work without losing its balance. He especially praises Lennie James’s richly nuanced performance and writing.
Read the full review →Nicholson finds the series gripping and familiar in places, but says clever layers give it a distinct identity. She particularly praises Suranne Jones’s subtly restrained portrayal of Claire’s grief.
Read the full review →Mellor finds the series absorbing, fresh, and unusually nuanced despite its grim subject matter. She especially praises Lennie James’s performance and the richly drawn ensemble of characters.
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The Killing · not reviewed yetAnother patient investigation that gives grief and ordinary working lives their proper weight.
The Missing · not reviewed yetFor another missing-child mystery that treats parental determination as something troubling.
Mother · not reviewed yetA parent’s search for answers becomes an unsettling study of certainty.
The VanishingA disappearance mystery for those willing to follow obsession into colder territory.
The Night OfA crime series whose attention to supporting characters makes its injustices harder to dismiss.
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