North Shore opens with a dead body floating in the water, that of MP’s daughter, Sophie Chalcott (Bailey Spalding), her mother being UK Minister Of Trade Abigail Crawford (Joanne Froggatt – Breathtaking), but they don’t know yet whether the cause was murder or a trafic accident.
Similar to The Bridge, there’s a two cops investigating from different countries. For Australia, it’s smug DS Meg Driscoll (Kirsty Sturgess), while going into bat for the UK is DS Max Drummond (John Bradley – Moonfall, The Railway Children Return), who’s got this shitty job beacuse he accused a colleague of planting evidence on a drug-dealer, so he’s upset the bigwigs at his nick.
Okay, so I’ve only seen the opener so far, but it’s all feeling very formulaic and dull. Abigail (understandably) cries a lot, while Max and Meg get on like a damp house that can’t catch fire, as they go round interviewing people and doing little else. And I don’t care a jot who bumped off Sophie!
There’s even the old cliché of having a slight twist towards the end, pointing the finger at one individual, yet because it’s episode one, I’d bet my house that it’s NOT them.
Like last year’s Until I Kill You on ITV, Channel 4’s After The Party, and Paramount+’s One Night, it’s another drama which has aired previously in another country, this one on Network 10 in Australia, as far back as May 2023.
UPDATE Episode 2:
North Shore begins tonight on ITV at 9.30pm, but is already available to stream in full on ITVX now.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but when it is, it will be listed on the New DVD, Blu-ray, 3D and 4K releases UK page.
Director: Gregor Jordan
Producer: Diane Haddon
Creator: Mike Bullen
Writers: Mike Bullen, Marcia Gardner
Music: Stephen Rae
Cast:
Abigail Crawford: Joanne Froggatt
DS Max Drummond: John Bradley
DS Meg Driscoll: Kirsty Sturgess
Simon Chilcott: Dan Spielman
Lloyd Macklin: Rob Carlton
Greg Hardy: Matt Passmore
DCI Andrew Newell: Rhys Muldoon
Justin Makepeace: Toby Truslove
DC Paea Leniu: Chris Alosio
Ben Barber: George Pullar
Sophie Chalcott: Bailey Spalding
Lachie Hooper: Dylan Hare
PC Cindy Yoo: Cassandra Sorrell
Tom Macklin: Max Mayer-Rayment
Oscar Aruzzi: Jonathan Lagudi
Justin Makepeace: Toby Truslove
Tori: Claire Lovering
Hamish: Kristian Schmid
Marjorie Abbott: Diana McLean
Dima: Marta Kaczmarek
Gary Weaver: Michael Beckley
Claire Buchanan: Tasneem Roc
Sarah Skillman: Helen Dallimore
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.