So, I saw I somehow missed the British Manhunt (2019, 2021), so I saw the first season and the first two episodes of the second season -- the rest of which will be available in the next two weeks here in America on Prime Video -- and here I am with a review:
Martin Clunes portrays the true story of DCI Colin Sutton, who took on at least two seemingly intractable cases. The first took place in the early years of the 21th century -- 2004-2006 -- and Manhunt does a fine job depicting what police work was like in London back then. Cameras that recorded the public were new and not everywhere. Sutton is delighted to find that a bus was outfitted with some cameras. Computers were a lot more recent than they are now. Programming can be suspect. And DNA, though reliable, was also not amenable to the level of analysis we have today.
I of course don't know what Sutton is really like, but Clunes does a great job in the role. He's courteous, respectful, but tough as nails in following the evidence and the logic, and sticking to his guns when he knows he's right. He almost has a touch of Columbo, which is fun to think, given that Sutton is a real DCI. His relentless and ultimately successful pursuit of a serial killer must be a textbook on how to get that kind of job done.
The second season has Sutton assigned to a case in 2009 that started in 1992. The crime would have worked perfectly as a case "ripped from the headlines" in Law and Order SVU: the serial rape of elderly women. Sutton has to enlist the aid of the mostly dedicated crew that has been pursuing the rapist with no success all these years. His understanding of human nature once again is sorely needed.
Manhunt is a sophisticated, sensitive true-story police procedural, and I'm down with and up for watching the two episodes which are rest of it.
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