As the first episode of Six Four begins, Chris (Kevin McKidd) and Michelle O’Neill (Vinette Robinson) go into the morgue. They tell the man in charge they know what happens because Chris is a police officer and Michelle was one. Once they’re shown the body, Michelle immediately begins breaking down. Chris says that isn’t her. In Edinburgh, Michelle says she knew it wasn’t her because she wouldn’t have stayed in Edinburgh. Chris recommends going home, but Michelle wants to go back to London. She isn’t going home although she thinks Chris should stay in case Olivia comes back. Chris holds onto her arm until a police officer interrupts and Michelle flees.

Chris rushes through the streets in hopes of catching up with Michelle. She steals a hat and runs into a bathroom stall where she changes her clothes and books a ticket. Chris sees her just before she runs into the train and leaves him. After the intro, Chris gets up going home alone. In Glasgow, Chris tries to get in contact with Michelle. At the police station, Chris tells DS Shereen Rahman (Nalini Chetty) that it wasn’t Olivia. He says it is just another girl that no one cares about. Shereen insists they care and she is there in case he needs to talk. She needs someone to go to an armed robbery on a supermarket delivery van. Michelle makes it to London and listens to Chris’s voicemail message. After buying another phone, she calls Tony.

She calls herself Sarah. Viewers see a man with what appears to be a dress and antlers. He puts the dress in a bag. Chris works the case before returning and admitting it doesn’t look like there is a weapon. He is going to get the CCTV footage and start looking through it. The Justice Minister, Robert Wallace (Richard Coyle), is brought in and introduced to DS Rahman. Chris notices one of the men with him before he is asked about his current case. Chris’s brother introduces him to Robert. Once Robert leaves, Shereen and Chris complain about the encounter. Chris mentions that Bill Martin (Brian McCardie) used to be up there, but he is best avoided. Chris gets a call from a woman who wants to see him today.

He meets with Sam and apologizes for not being in touch. She asks if she was a mistake. She wants to talk to him about the missing girl named Julie Mackie. Chris tells Sam that he doesn’t have the authority to talk to her off the record. She promises not to tell anyone. It was 16 years ago. Chris didn’t work on it and the guy who did only said it wasn’t good because they didn’t get to the bottom of it. She reveals that Julie’s dad, Jim Mackie (James Cosmo), claims his daughter was kidnapped. She pleads with Chris to ask his brother about Jim, but Chris doesn’t want to do that. Sam reveals that there might’ve been a phone call to the Mackie house by the kidnapper.

The police might’ve covered it up and his brother could’ve been a part of it. Chris doesn’t want to believe it, but Sam says there is a recording of the call. Michelle packs her baton and phone before leaving her motel room. She goes to The Feathers and meets a man, Tony, who knows her as Sarah. Chris talks to his brother, Philip (Andrew Whipp), about Bill Martin. Chris doesn’t like him because he is a bully and a bigot. Philip apologizes for not being in touch before leaving about the identification this morning. He believes Olivia will come back, but Chris doesn’t think so after three weeks. Philip offers to help if there is anything he can do. He also invites Chris and Michelle over to his new house. Chris chases him outside to ask if he remembers Julie Mackie.

Philip O’Neill says the family said it was a kidnapping, but there was no evidence to support that. He doesn’t know what happened although the dad was a crank. Chris tells him about speaking to Samantha earlier. He is reminded that he shouldn’t be talking to journalists. Philip wants to know if she comes back to him about this. In the Southern Uplands of Scotland, a vehicle’s tag is picked up by a police car sitting next to the road. Michelle talks to the man about getting in touch with another man. She is warned that he will kill her. Michelle pleads with him to help, but he thinks she should go home. He walks away without helping. Chris and Shereen watch the video of the robbery and see that a pregnant woman was involved.

Once Chris is alone, he researches Julie Mackie on the computer. He finds articles accusing Jim of hiding something so he researches him as well. After getting his address, Chris decides to visit Jim. Chris pleads with him to talk to him because his daughter is missing as well. Jim agrees to let him come inside. He tells Chris that everything changed after Julie disappeared. Chris says his daughter disappeared a few weeks ago when she went to Central Station and took a train to Edinburgh. Jim reveals that his wife used to dream of Julie phoning. He thinks people were listening to them. His wife was the only one who heard the kidnapper’s voice. Chris isn’t sure the police can do much because his daughter is almost 18. Jim says the police are corrupt, but Chris says we’re not all like that.

Jim realizes he is a cop. He throws him down and tells him that his daughter was kidnapped by the security services. She was murdered because he knew about Six Four. Once Chris is tossed out, he tries to get Mackie to tell him more about Six Four. Stuart Simpson (Lorne Macfayden) teaches at the university. He speaks to Annabel Wallace (Iona Anderson) about gambling which is something they don’t recommend. Samantha’s car is rammed from behind. It eventually speeds off in front of her. Robert does a media interview and claims it is time to restore Scotland’s place as a progressive country at the heart of Europe. Chris tries to find out more about Six Four. Robert insists this is the time for the people of Scotland to decide their future.

Michelle calls him to apologize for day, but says she isn’t coming back at the moment. Chris tries to apologize for the affair again. Michelle says they need to focus on finding Olivia as someone bangs on Chris’s door. When he opens the door, Sam urges him to tell his brother that she won’t be intimidated. After she leaves, Chris checks the phone only to find that Michelle has already hung up. His food delivery arrives. Michelle calls Tony and offers to tell him why she needs to talk to Piers. She goes on to say it is about her daughter. Annabel goes out at night and walks through the woods to a car that is empty. She is grabbed from behind and forced into the boot of the car.

 

Six Four Review

The opening episode of Six Four was okay, but it is a relief to see it only has four episodes. It is hard not to want this to do well because Kevin McKidd is always enjoyable. However, there isn’t anything special or groundbreaking about the story. It feels like a messier, watered-down version of The Missing although the episode did improve towards the end.

Everything has been done before with the only possible difference being that Chris and Michelle were both in the police force at some point. The soundtrack was enjoyable, the camera work is decent enough, and the performances are solid so there is still room for Six Four to get better as the story develops.

Another episode may be needed to see how this develops, but I am just indifferent about everything after the first episode. It scores a 5.5 out of 10. Recaps of Six Four can be found on Reel Mockery here. Find out how to support our independent site at this link. Learn more about advertising on Reel Mockery here.