Summerwater‘s trailer gave me the same feeling as 2019’s Deadwater Fell, where everything’s dark and mysterious, and no-one’s giving anything away.
Five cabins. Four groups of people on holiday. A family who works in the hotel. One big fire. What happened?
Was the fire an accident? Well, of course, everyone’s keeping schtum.
Early on, we see something being brought out of the lake, while one of the cabins contains a group of people having a really loud party, with the doors open, so everynoe has to hear it. And as the opener centres on couple Steve (Daniel Rigby – The Witchfinder) and Justine Tindall (Valene Kane – Blue Lights) who are trying for another baby, but the latter passes by this cabin where a woman’s taking a picture of her. Creepy woman is creepy!
Each episode centres on different perspectives from different individuals and sometimes mixing between characters, the opener also seeing Justine being skipped over for promotion at work for Maya (Crystal Yu – Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils), when she thought the job was a done deal.
Summerwater can get confusing when it jumps around in time, but then it’s like trying to put a jigsaw puzzle together, when the pieces are only supplied bit by bit. Plus, when someone says, “I hope we can be friends”… Erm… EEK!
Oh, and it wouldn’t be a weird TV drama without Shirley Henderson (I Swear) behaving in a weird manner 🙂
Overall, Summerwater is good, and not just a slow-burner, but a slowwwwwwww-burner, and I’ll be interested to see the reactions from others on it.
Summerwater begins tonight on Channel 4 at 9pm, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
All episodes are online now at All 4.
Cert: 
Running time: 45 minutes per episode (4 episodes)
Release date: November 16th 2025
Channel: Channel 4
Format: 2.39:1
Series Directors: Robert McKillop, Fiona Walton
Producers: Laura Ferguson
Writer: John Donnelly
Music: Gazelle Twin
Cast:
Steve Tindall: Daniel Rigby
Justine Tindall: Valene Kane
Millie Nkene: Shereen Cutkelvin
David Campbell: Dougray Scott
Alina Piotrowska: Anna Próchniak
Maya Cho: Crystal Yu
Rasa Zaliskeviciene: Ingeborga Dapkunaite
Gavin: James Harkness
Becky Henderson: Silvie Furneaux
The Official: Colin MacDougall
Annie Campbell: Shirley Henderson
Josh: Anders Hayward
Lola Tindall: Emily Briscoe
Jack Tindall: Bertie Wallwork
Violeta: Anika Boyle
Rachel: Shauna Macdonald
Ian Henderson: James Sives
Alex Henderson: Calum Ross
Marijonas Zaliskevcius: Arnas Fedaravicius
Barnaby Merrick (Psych Consultant): Bill Blackwood
Teacher: Jai Sharma
Waitress: Chelsea Quaison
Young Annie: Philippa Dawson
Young David: Gabriel Scott
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.