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Next of Kin is described by ITV as a “family drama” but I’d say that’s more about the fact it’s based around a family within the drama, rather than being suitable for the whole family, since the content is not something you’d want young children to watch.
A terrorist attack has taken place in London, leaving four people dead, and at the same time, GP Mona Shirani’s (Archie Panjabi) brother, Kareem (Navin Chowdhry), has been kidnapped after finishing for the day in Lahore, Pakistan, where he works at a charity clinic. Meanwhile, there are other family matters to bring to the screen, and to her attention, for which she was completely unaware, which will also play out in this episode, but I’m not going to give any spoilers here.
It’s a timely drama, and it’s good to bring this sort of subject, but good is about the limit I can bring to what I’ve seen. Other than the two leads being worth a watch, the episode was far from great or surprising, and one can only compare this to The State and it’s not quite The State, plus, there are elements of this – including the ‘Next Time’ segment – which feel like it’s heading away from reality towards Hollywood nonsense, but I’ll give it a second episode and hope things get on the right path, but if it heads down the wrong one, we’ll be parting ways.
Next Of Kin continues next Monday at 9pm, and then will be the ITV Hub. You can pre-order the series on DVD, ahead of its release on February 12th.
Episode 1: 6/10
Series Directors: Justin Chadwick and Jamie Childs
Series Producer: Rebecca Ferguson
Writers: Natasha Narayan and Paul Rutman
Music: Alex Heffes and Peter Bateman
Cast:
Mona Shirani: Archie Panjabi
Guy Harcourt: Jack Davenport
Danish Shirani: Viveik Kalra
DS Stanley Hart: Sope Dirisu
Hamoud: Elie Haddad
Mr. Khalid: Nasser Memarzia
Kareem Shirani: Navin Chowdhry
DS Joe Townsend: Enzo Cilenti
Ani Shirani: Kiran Sonia Sawar
DCI Vivien Barnes: Claire Skinner
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.