Southcliffe is a drama mini series that began airing on the British Channel 4, August 4, 2013. When the show opens, we are introduced to eccentric Stephen Morton (Sean Harris), who is busy taking care of his frail, debilitated mother. When he gets his mother settled in each morning, he goes for a long run in his army fatigues and also does handy work for the locals. Stephen was repairing an old chimney for bar owner, Paul Gould (Anatol Yusef, Boardwalk Empire), when he meets military officer, Chris Cooper (Joe Dempsie). He leads Chris to believe that he was a former British special air service officer and promises to train him how to be a better military officer. During the training session, Stephen becomes the hunter, while Chris is the hunted. He fills his gun with rubber bullets and tells Chris to start running through the woods, which he does, until he injures his knee, but manages to survive the mission. Stephen becomes upset, when he asks for payment from Paul, who tells him that he will have it the following day. He returns home to check on his demented mother, where he finds his passive friend, Claire Salter (Shirley Henderson), taking care of her. She is crying, when Stephen enters and he verbally accuses Claire of hurting her, when she is transferring her out of the bed to a side chair. Claire denies the allegations and tells Stephen that she cares about his mother and him, then she leaves. Claire’s husband, Andrew (Eddie Marsan), is trying to encourage her to continue taking the fertility drugs, even though they are causing her to experience extreme weakness. Stephen returns to the bar, where he is confronted by Chris and his uncle Alan (Geoff Bell), who is a former SAS officer. The tell Stephen that he is a liar and he never served in the military. Stephen exits the bar and they chase him through the woods in their vehicle, until he cannot continue further, then they rough him up. Stephen has finally had enough so he decides to go on a killing spree, which started with his mother. He grabs his stash of military weapons and heads out to seek revenge on those that have wronged him throughout his life. He takes out Chris’s girlfriend, then hunts out Paul’s wife, Annie (Emma Cunniffe), and his two children, but Stephen is not finished yet. He kills Claire’s daughter, Anna (Kaya Scodelario), while she is out on a jog. Reporter David Whitehead (Rory Kinnear) has returned to Southcliffe to do a story on the killing spree and shooter Stephen Morton, who he knew as a child. David becomes outraged, when he finds out that the towns people knew of Stephen’s mental capacity and refused to take action on getting him help or stopping him from committing these heinous crimes. The cops released a statement to the fact that Stephen had killed himself, when they tried to apprehend him, but Marsden (Maurice Roedes) conveniences David that the statement is untrue. David goes to a pub, before heading out of town and is refused service. He becomes irate and tells the people that they deserved what they got and he wished he had a gun to kill them all. A year later, the victim’s families are still struggling to live a normal life, while David is residing with his sister. He receives a letter that has a photo of the same gun that Stephen was supposed to have killed himself with and a few written scribbles. He decides to head back to Southcliffe to follow up on Stephen’s case. Of course, he is not welcomed, but that does not deter him from finding out who sent him the mysterious letter. Throughout the series, we are taken back to when David was a child and being bullied by a gang of neighborhood children. They continuously harassed him by calling him a killer. Stephen’s mother finally packs up their belongings and move to a more remote area of Southcliffe. Will David be able to forget his past and move on from the Morton mystery? Did Stephen really kill himself, before the cops could arrest him or is he hiding out in Southcliffe somewhere? Review The writers and producers took a bold move to develop Southcliffe because it focuses on a very touchy topic, spree killing. Although, the mini series is difficult to follow at times and the pace is excruciatingly slow, it turns out to be quite interesting. I truly wish the writers took a different angle in telling this story and speeding up the pace because it could have turned out a lot better and would have been able to hold one’s attention in a more effective way. The acting is great throughout, especially Sean Harris and Shirley Henderson, who stood out above the rest. The amazing scenes of the deserted cities and beautiful landscapes adds so much to the show and you could find yourself lost in them forever. All in all I feel that Southcliffe is definitely worth a watch and it deserves a 7.5 out of 10. ReelMockeryJay Skelton is a fan of all television shows and movies. He tries his […]
