Sophie Rundle shines but After the Flood series two largely retreads its ground

Sophie Rundle returns as Jo Marshall in series two of After the Flood, the Yorkshire-set detective drama now airing on ITV1 and available on ITVX in the UK and on BritBox in Australia. The review notes that Jo is now a proper detective, separated from her baby’s father Pat (played by Rundle’s real-life partner Matt Stokoe), and still intent on bringing down a corrupt cop who secretly runs the town.

A new case begins when a body is found on the moors, with the script linking the death to either chemical dumping, the burning of heather to facilitate grouse shooting (leaving lower-lying communities more vulnerable to floods), or the fly-tipping of commercial waste; someone is also daubing red Xs on buildings in protest.

Rundle is described as luminous, and the series gives more time to her relationship with her widowed mother Molly (Lorraine Ashbourne), whose knowledge of the town and bluntness serve as a useful investigative foil. Jo’s new partner, Sam (Jill Halfpenny), is characterised as friendly and inherently trustworthy.

The new murder plot contrasts with season one’s death in the flood that was not actually a drowning by featuring a body “full of shotgun pellets that isn’t actually a shooting,” the review says.

Key Topics

Culture, Yorkshire, Jo Marshall, Sophie Rundle, Lorraine Ashbourne, Itvx