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The Stranger begins with something I never expected in a drama… scenes from my hometown of Stockport!
Then there was something rather less palatable as we saw a naked man running through the woods before events went back 12 hours earlier, as Adam Price (Richard Armitage – The Hobbit Trilogy) is out driving in his car, trying to convince his kids that Bruce springsteen is still cool.
Whilst chatting on the phone to his wife, Corinne (Dervla Kirwan), he catches the eye of a mysterious stranger (Hannah John-Kamen, above) who approaches him, and stares at him intently… She’s rather cute, but what does she want?
She tells Adam, “You didn’t have to stay with Corinne when she told you she was pregnant”. Pardon? Who are you and what business is it of yours? …is what I would be asking.
She adds that when Corinne told him she was pregnant and then lost it, she was lying, and was never pregnant. Basically, everything he knows about his wife is a lie… and she also insinuates that hsi children might not be his, either, before exiting stage left.
And what’s she talking about re: “Novelty Funsy”?
Yes, this mysterious woman knows more than she’s letting on, and some, all, or none of the answers will be revealed in due course; and all I can say about when he speaks to the missus is that her reply begins, “There’s more to this… it’s not what you think…”, so what is it? Oh, what a tangled web we weave…
So, beware good-looking women. They’re good at geting your attention, but they either want something that’ll cost you dear, or they’re just plain nuts!
Elsewhere, there’s a midnight bonfire/rave happening in town, which leads back to the aforementioned chap who’s wearing the Emperor’s New Clothes, and it appears to be tied in with a decapitated alpaca with bite marks, the animal being owned by a woman on a farm who has a herd of alpacas, each named after members of Take That and One Direction. Hot on the trail, sort-of, are cops Johanna (Siobhan Finneran – Apostasy) and Wes (Kadiff Kirwan).
In addition to this, Adam is the solicitor of Martin (Stephen Rea), who has locked a man in his cellar… Turns out, the man is from the council and wants to evict Martin, but the man doesn’t want to move from his house, which is the last one in the street before they knock them all down.
So, in addition my liking the banter between a lot of the characters, it feels like there’s three different storylines going on here, and at the end of episode one, I’m waiting for the common link to emerge. However, it’s safe to say, that with 8 episodes to the series, Adam isn’t the only one in the town who’ll be getting a visit…
Or is Stockport a city? I should know, but I haven’t a clue. Either way, if Hannah John-Kamen wants to door-step me any time soon, feel free! 😀
I like dramas that are filmed in Manchester, but I just saw that they also shot some footage in Stockport. I thought I recognised a location in either the trailer or a picture I saw, but then I thought, “Nah, they can’t have filmed in Stockport, surely?” :O
According to the Manchester Evening News, there’s the market, the railway station and the Plaza. I go past and through the railway station several times a week, so unless they shot that before 2019, how can I have missed it? Eek!
In fact, one of the strangest things happening, is that the Manchester Evening News are actually writing a story about Greater Manchester, and not just generic clickbait!
UPDATE: I’ve since seen the entire series, as I’ve been watching it since I first posted about the first episode, and it’s all a fun ride, but nicely ridiculous at times.
The Stranger is not available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD, but is on Netflix from today.
Series Score: 9/10
Series Directors: Daniel O’Hara, Hannah Quinn
Producer: Madonna Baptiste
Writers: Daniel Brocklehurst, Mick Ford, Charlotte Coben, Karla Crome
Novel: Harlan Coben
Music: David Buckley, Tim Lauer
Cast:
Adam Price: Richard Armitage
Corrine Price: Dervla Kirwan
The Stranger: Hannah John-Kamen
Thomas Price: Jacob Dudman
Mike Tripp: Brandon Fellows
Johanna Griffin: Siobhan Finneran
Ed Price: Anthony Head
John Katz: Paul Kaye
DC Wesley Ross: Kadiff Kirwan
Martin Killane: Stephen Rea
Dante Gunnarsson: Kai Alexander
Kimberley Doyle: Callie Cooke
Becca Tripp: Jemma Powell
Doug Tripp: Shaun Dooley
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.