Of all seasons of “True Detective,” season 2 remains the most maligned. But I always appreciate an attempt to peer under the carapace of sunny California and see what wretched beasts spring forth, and I think season 2 of Nic Pizzolatto’s crime thriller series did as good a job as any of probing the dark side of the City of Angels. The same could be said of the first season, I suppose, though the swampy environs of deep Louisiana seem to lend themselves more to a murky noir mystery than SoCal. Regardless, it was when trying to find other shows with a similar tone to the first and second season of “True Detective” that I came across the “Red Riding” trilogy.
This series of three feature-length TV episodes set in the north of England during the late ’70s and early ’80s is about as dour as you can get, but it’s also really, really good. As a proud Brit, I do like to get my tea from Yorkshire, but hadn’t ever thought of seeing whether anyone had given the region the “True Detective” treatment. Thankfully, someone did just that — or rather, several people.
The series is based on David Peace’s novels “Nineteen Seventy-Four” (1999), “Nineteen Eighty” (2001), and “Nineteen Eighty-Three” (2002) — a fourth novel, “Nineteen Seventy-Seven” (2000) was not adapted. Using the books as inspiration, “Red Riding” paints a gloomy portrait of Yorkshire as a region rife with political corruption, overseen by one of the most compromised police forces you’ll likely ever see on-screen and all set against the backdrop of the real-life Yorkshire Ripper murders of the ’70s and ’80s.
You might not think the criminal underbelly of Yorkshire would make for a good noir crime thriller, but oh, how wrong you’d be. “Red Riding” is solidly brilliant throughout, anchored by some outstanding performances from some of Britain’s best. If that’s not enough to convince you to hunt down this little-known Channel 4 miniseries, then how about the fact that its first installment, “1974,” stars Andrew Garfield in what is his only 100%-rated project on Rotten Tomatoes?
The Red Riding Trilogy is a bleak masterpiece
The “Red Riding” trilogy is unrelentingly bleak. Practically nobody is on the level in this 2009 miniseries, and without giving too much away, the ones who are don’t last very long. But if that sort of thing doesn’t bother you (or in fact appeals to your sensibilities), then the series is absolutely worth a watch, and I think it’s fair to say that Andrew Garfield’s primary portion of the story, “1974,” is the best. In fact, the feature-length first installment is, in this writer’s opinion, one of the best crime thrillers ever made.
Much like “The Wire” in microcosm, the three episodes of “Red Riding” all add up to paint a portrait of a particular area, in this case Yorkshire. Except this particular picture casts the region as irredeemably corrupt and morally bankrupt. Amid the dreariness, Andrew Garfield’s newspaper reporter Eddie Dunford is a boisterous and idealistic, if naïve, ray of light in the very first Julian Jarrold-directed installment, “1974.” Unfortunately, Sean Bean’s real estate developer, John Dawson, is the complete opposite, representing a self-interested, corrupt, and repugnant antagonist with whom Dunford finds himself clashing after investigating the cases of several murdered and missing schoolgirls. “1974” builds towards a truly harrowing finale, stopping along the way to showcase an affecting romantic entanglement between Dunford and Rebecca Hall’s bereaved Paula Garland that sees the two actors giving some of their finest performances.
That all amounts to not just an underseen British gem of a crime thriller, but an episode of TV that managed to earn an elusive 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
1974 contains one of Andrew Garfield’s best performances
When it comes to Andrew Garfield movies, his highest-rated film behind “1974” is David Fincher’s “The Social Network.” That can hardly be thought of as an Andrew Garfield film, however, so we move down the list to 2014 drama “99 Homes,” which is very much an Andrew Garfield (and Michael Shannon) film. But even that well-respected yet somehow under-appreciated effort only managed a 92% RT score. “1974,” on the other hand, remains the only time Garfield got the very best of the almighty Tomatometer.
Granted, the rating for “1974” is based on just 14 reviews, only four of which come from so-called “Top Critics.” But while Rotten Tomatoes — the site that claims there are only two perfect sci-fi movies in the history of cinema — often should be viewed with a healthy skepticism, this is one of those times when the Tomatometer and the various critics that make up its life blood have gotten something right. The Detroit News’ Tom Long opined that “1974” is the best of the trilogy and “has the most impact, mainly because the young reporter Dunford is such a mix of romantic notions.” Writing for the Auston Chronicle, meanwhile, Kimberley Jones surmised that “[Julian] Jarrold and his crew aren’t reinventing the wheel here — but, oh, they give it a hell of a spin.”
Of course, since “1974” debuted on British TVs, Garfield has gone on to become a major star, now appears opposite Florence Pugh in the sweet, weepy drama “We Live In Time” after his Oscar-nominated performance in 2021’s “Tick, Tick… Boom!” and his triumphant return to the Marvel universe in “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” But if you’re a real Garfield die-hard, “Red Riding” is a better performance than either of those examples, worthy of catching if you missed it and certainly worthy of that 100% Rotten Tomatoes score. It might not seem as alluring as a peek under the surface of Louisiana or Los Angeles, but the “Red Riding” trilogy and especially “1974,” with their exploration of Yorkshire corruption, are every bit as darkly captivating as their American counterparts.
