Rellik - Britbox review

Rellik was first screened back in 2017 but I've only just caught up with it, thanks to Britbox. This is a six-part series written by a talented pair of brothers, Jack and Harry Williams (their father Nigel is also a notable writer: I remember his enjoyable private eye series Charlie, starring David Warner, from back in 1984). Rellik is 'Killer' spelt backwards and the USP of the series is that the story is told in reverse chronology. 

I've become increasingly interested in reverse chronology, though I've yet to attempt to tell a story that way (and to be honest, I may never do so!). It's a very difficult trick to pull off successfully and to sustain it over six episodes is ambitious in the extreme. Partly because of this, the final episode deviates from the approach and - of necessity - moves forward to wrap up the highly convoluted storyline. But I wouldn't criticise the writing as gimmicky. To me, it's rather clever.

Be warned. If you're looking for cosy crime, this isn't for you. It's a very dark story, involving a serial killer who uses acid and there are physically and emotionally damaged characters aplenty. There's also a shortage of likeable people. Even the protagonists, DCI Gabriel Markham (Richard Dormer) and DI Elaine Shepherd (Jodi Balfour), are deeply flawed.

But I have to say that I was impressed, so much so that I'd be glad to watch the series all over again to see how the writers managed to overcome the challenges they faced. I think that they, and the production team, displayed great skill in contriving such a suspenseful story. The tension didn't sag, as so often happens in shows of this length, and in the final episode I did feel a degree of emotional involvement that I didn't necessarily expect.