The First Look at 'The Responder' Season 2 Puts Us Back on the Night Shift

The BBC has dropped a quartet of first-look images for the second season of the BAFTA-winning crime drama The Responder. A story about the emotional extremes of life on the front line of British policing, it centers on a troubled officer who finds himself demoralized, demoted, and tangled up in the city's criminal underworld. 

The Responder stars Martin Freeman (Sherlock) as Chris Carson, a troubled Liverpool police officer demoted from his position as a Detective Inspector to driving the night shift at a fictionalized constabulary. But a new job doesn't mean the personal issues that landed him in the middle of an ongoing corruption probe have gone away and both his marriage and his mental health are hanging on by a thread. 

But while the first season saw him make several dark, unethical decisions, and in its second, it sounds like he’ll try and pick up the pieces as best he can.

The first look images give viewers their first glimpse of four of the series' main characters, including Freeman's Chris Cason, Adelayo Adedayo (Supacell) Rachel, Josh Finan's (The Gentleman) Marco, and Emily Fairn's (Mary & George) Casey.

Season 2 takes place up six months after the events of the series’ first installment, as Chris attempts to rebuild his life and relationships in the wake of his criminal behavior. But trying to be a better police officer, and a better father to his daughter Tilly (Romi Hyland-Rylands) while still dealing with the recurrent trauma of the night officer beat means he's desperate to find a day job. No matter what it takes.

Also putting her life back together is Carson's partner Rachel, a recruit who found herself unwillingly tangled up in the mess his life had become. Still furious with him, she's trying to reclaim control of her career. But after working with a succession of supposedly “normal” cops, she discovers that she's maybe not as different from her partner as she'd like to think. 

The bulk of the series cast is returning for Season 2 alongside Freeman, Adedayo, Finan, and Fairn. This includes MyAnna Buring (The Witcher), Warren Brown (Luther), Philip S. McGuinness (The Alienist), Faye McKeever (A Confession), Mark Womack (The Vanishing Man) and Amaka Okafor (The Split), who all reprise their roles. 

New faces joining the line-up in the second season include Adam Nagaitis (The Terror), Bernard Hill (Wolf Hall), and Ian Puleston-Davies (Tin Star).

Season 1 debuted on the BBC in January 2022 and attracted over nine and a half million viewers for its premiere episode, making it one of the year's biggest new dramas. The first season arrived in the U.S. several months later, streaming in May of that same year on BritBox.  

The Responder Season 2 is written by Tony Schumacher and directed by Jeanette Nordahl, Mounia Akl, and Charlotte Regan. It is produced by Barrington Robinson, with Laurence Bowen, Chris Carey, and Toby Bruce serving as executive producers for Dancing Ledge Productions. Rebecca Ferguson is the executive producer for the BBC. 

Filming took place in and around Liverpool in 2023 and Fremantle is handling global distribution for the series. It will likely arrive in the U.S. via BritBox later this year.