''Deadwater Fell'' is a four-part British drama television miniseries written and created by Daisy Coulam. It stars

David Tennant David John Tennant (''né'' McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He rose to fame for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor (2005–2010 and 2013) in the BBC science-fiction TV show ''Doctor Who'', reprising the rol ...

as a doctor whose wife and three young children are murdered in a fire. It premiered 10 January 2020 on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

Premise

Tragedy strikes in a remote Scottish village when a fire rages out of control at the Kendrick home, killing a mother and her three young children. Only the father, the village doctor, is pulled out alive, but all five were drugged. Investigators search for a motive as they discover this seemingly ideal family was far from happy.

Cast

as Tom Kendrick *

Cush Jumbo Cush Jumbo (born 23 September 1985) is a British actress and writer. She is best known for her leading role as attorney Lucca Quinn in the CBS drama series '' The Good Wife'' (2015–16) and the CBS All Access spin-off series ''The Good Figh ...

as Jess Milner *

Matthew McNulty Michael Anthony McNulty (born 14 December 1982), known professionally as Matthew McNulty, is a German-born British actor. Early life McNulty was born on 14 December 1982 in Hanover, Lower Saxony, West Germany, and lived in Berlin and Münster ...

as Police Sergeant Steve Campbell *

Anna Madeley Anna Madeley (born 1 October 1976) is an English actress. She performed for three seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has appeared in three off-West End productions. She has starred in productions on each of the main British televisi ...

as Kate Kendrick *

Maureen Beattie Maureen Jane Beattie (born 14 August 1953) is an Irish-born, Scottish actress of both stage and screen. Early life Beattie was born in Bundoran, County Donegal on 14 August 1953, as the daughter of Scottish actor and comedian Johnny Beattie, ...

as Carol Kendrick * Jamie Michie as Simon Wells *

Laurie Brett Laurie Brett (born 28 March 1969) is a Scottish actress, best known for her roles as Jane Beale in the BBC One soap opera '' EastEnders'' and Christine Mulgrew in the BBC One school-based drama series '' Waterloo Road''. Early and personal life ...

as DC Gemma Darlington * Gordon Brown as DCI Spencer Collins *

Lorn Macdonald Lorn Alexander Macdonald (born 10 September 1992) is a Scottish actor and director. Born in Kirkcaldy, he studied acting at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He is mostly known for starring as Spanner in the 2019 film '' Beats'' and as Mark Re ...

as PC Taylor Clarke * Lindy Whiteford as Ruth McKenzie *

Ron Donachie Ronald Eaglesham Porter (born 26 April 1956), known professionally as Ron Donachie, is a Scottish actor. He is known for starring as DI John Rebus in the BBC Radio 4 dramatisations of the Ian Rankin "Rebus" detective novels and for his supporti ...

as Callum McKenzie * Orla Russell as Emily Kendrick * Seline Hizli as Sacha *

Jack Greenlees Jack Greenlees is a Scottish actor, known for his roles as Craig Cooper in the BBC One Scottish crime drama television series ''Shetland'' (2016), as Justice Stuart Knox in the British-American period drama television series '' Harlots'' (2019) ...

as Luke * Lewis Gribben as Dylan Denham-Johnson *Aaron Connell as Elliott Campbell *Bradley Connell as Lewis Campbell *

Production

Channel 4 commissioned the four-part series in January 2019. It was produced by

Kudos Kudos may refer to: Arts and media * ''Kudos'' (computer game), a life simulation game produced by Positech Games * Kudos (production company), a UK-based film and television production company * Kudos, a fictional currency used by the Dwellers ...

, part of the

Endemol Shine Group Endemol Shine Group B.V. (stylized in all spaceless) was a Dutch production and distribution company of scripted and non-scripted content, responsible for programmes such as '' Big Brother'', '' Deal or No Deal'', '' The Money Drop'', '' Fear F ...

and

were announced as the leads in June, with

cast as well. Tennant is also an executive producer. Filming began in June 2019 in Dunlop, Ayrshire, which stood in for the fictional village of Kirkdarroch. Other filming locations included

Culzean Country Park Culzean Castle ( , see yogh; sco, Cullain) is a castle overlooking the Firth of Clyde, near Maybole, Carrick, in South Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland. It is the former home of the Marquess of Ailsa, the chief of Clan Kennedy, but is no ...

; Gateside Place in

Kilbarchan Kilbarchan ( gd, Cill Bhearchain) is a village and civil parish in central Renfrewshire, in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The village's name means "cell (chapel) of St. Barchan". It is known for its former weaving industry. History ...

, Renfrewshire; Irvine Beach and the Low Green Park in Irvine, North Ayrshire. It was directed by Lynsey Miller of

Kilwinning Kilwinning (, sco, Kilwinnin; gd, Cill D’Fhinnein) is a town in North Ayrshire, Scotland. It is on the River Garnock, north of Irvine, about southwest of Glasgow. It is known as "The Crossroads of Ayrshire". Kilwinning was also a Civil Pa ...

, Ayrshire.

Episodes

Reception

The first episode of ''Deadwater Fell'' received positive reviews from critics. David Craig of '' Radio Times'' gave it four out of five stars, calling it a "complex and fascinating mystery." He praised screenwriter Daisy Coulam for fleshing out the characters, particularly Kate Kendrick (

): "While ''Deadwater Fell'' might initially sound like another case of ' disposable woman' in the crime genre, writer Daisy Coulam deserves recognition for elevating the character of Kate above such a trope."

Lucy Mangan Lucy Katherine Mangan''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007'' (born 1974) is a British journalist and author. She is a columnist, features writer and TV critic for ''The Guardian''. A major part of her writing is related t ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' likewise rated it four out of five stars, comparing it positively to ''

Broadchurch ''Broadchurch'' is a British crime drama television series broadcast on ITV (TV network), ITV for List of Broadchurch episodes, three series between 2013 and 2017. It was created by Chris Chibnall, who acted as an executive producer and wrote a ...

'': "Whether it will catch the public imagination like ''Broadchurch'' did is anybody's guess. It feels far more solidly engineered, easily as convincing in its portrait of a small community suddenly shattered by an awful event, and it elicits more emotional investment from the off. I'm finding it an irresistible treat, but these things are essentially alchemical and unpredictable. ''Broadchurch'' with freckles – think of it like that if it'll help. Come on in; the ''Deadwater''s lovely."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, tt9704568
''Deadwater Fell''
at

Interview with David Tennant
at Channel 4 2020s British crime drama television series 2020 British television series debuts 2020 British television series endings Channel 4 television dramas English-language television shows 2020s British television miniseries Television shows set in Scotland Television series by Endemol Television shows scored by Natalie Holt