''Rellik'' ("Killer" spelled backwards) is a

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

created and written by brothers Harry and Jack Williams that premiered on 11 September 2017. The project was commissioned by the BBC in 2015, with

Cinemax Cinemax is an American pay television, cable, and satellite television network owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Developed as a companion "maxi-pay" service complementing the offerings shown on parent net ...

joining them later in November 2016. In the United States the series premiered on 13 April 2018.

Synopsis

The series tells the story of the hunt for a serial killer who always attacks his victims with acid. The chief investigating officer, Detective Chief Inspector Gabriel Markham, himself becomes a victim of the perpetrator but survives the attack. The story is shown in reverse, starting with the police shooting the suspected killer and then moving backwards in sections to finish at the beginning of the story. The period of time the story has moved backwards is shown each time on the screen.

Cast and characters

Main

Richard Dormer Richard Dormer (born 11 November 1969) is an actor, playwright and screenwriter from Northern Ireland. He is best known for his roles as Beric Dondarrion in the HBO television series ''Game of Thrones'' and Dan Anderssen in Sky Atlantic's '' ...

as DCI Gabriel Markham *

Jodi Balfour Jodi Balfour (born October 29, 1986) is a South African film and television actress, known for her role as Gladys Witham in the Canadian television drama series ''Bomb Girls'' and Ellen Waverly Wilson in the Apple TV+ space drama series '' For Al ...

as DI Elaine Shepard *

Paterson Joseph Paterson D. Joseph (born 22 June 1964) is a British actor. He appeared in the Royal Shakespeare Company productions of ''King Lear'' and '' Love's Labour's Lost'' in 1990. On television he is best known for his roles in ''Casualty'' (1997–1998) ...

as Dr Isaac Taylor *Lærke Winther as Lisa Markham *

Shannon Tarbet Shannon Tarbet (born 27 October 1991) is a British actress who has transitioned from an extensive career in theatre to feature film with main roles in '' Love Is Blind'' (2019) and '' Love Sarah'' (2020), and on television with recurring roles ...

as Hannah Markham *

Paul Rhys Paul Rhys (born 19 December 1963) is a Welsh theatre, television and film actor. Early life Rhys was born in Neath to working class Catholic parents, Kathryn Ivory and her husband Richard Charles Rhys, a labourer. At fourteen, he bred and train ...

as Patrick Barker *

Michael Shaeffer Michael Shaeffer is an English actor, known for his roles as "Longcross" in the BBC political-thriller television series '' Bodyguard'' (2018), Sergeant Yelland in the BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best te ...

as Steven Mills *

Rosalind Eleazar Rosalind Eleazar is an English stage and screen actress. She trained at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, graduating in 2015. Her TV roles include Christine in the BBC series '' Rellik'', Jacky Bast in ''Howards End'', Kate in the ITV s ...

as Christine Levison *

Georgina Rich Georgina Rich (born August 1976) is a British actress. Education Pursuing her love of dance, she left school in Dartford, Kent at 16 to attend the London Studio Centre in King's Cross. After three years of trying to make it as a profession ...

as Beth Mills *

Ray Stevenson George Raymond Stevenson (born 25 May 1964) is an actor from Northern Ireland. He is known for playing Dagonet in the film ''King Arthur'' (2004) and Titus Pullo in the BBC/HBO television series ''Rome'' (2005–2007). He has portrayed two Marv ...

as DSI Edward Benton

Recurring

Clare Holman Clare Margaret Holman (born 12 January 1964) is an English actress. She portrayed forensic pathologist Dr. Laura Hobson in the crime drama series ''Inspector Morse'' and its spin-off ''Lewis'' from 1995 to 2015. Career Holman started her act ...

as Rebecca Barker *

Clive Russell Clive Russell (born 7 December 1945) is a Scottish actor. He is known for his roles as Chief Inspector Frederick Abberline in ''Ripper Street'', Angus O'Connor in ''Happiness'' and Brynden Tully in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones''. He also ap ...

as Henry Parides *

Kieran Bew Kieran Bew (born 18 August 1980) is an English actor, known for portraying Alfonso, Duke of Calabria in ''Da Vinci's Demons'' for Starz, '' Hans Christian Andersen: My Life as a Fairytale'' for Hallmark Entertainment and Gary Parr in Jimmy M ...

as DI Mike Sutherland *

Reece Ritchie Reece Ritchie (born 23 July 1986) is an English actor. He is known for his film roles, such as Moha in ''10,000 BC'' (2008), Bis in '' Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time'' (2010), and Iolaus in ''Hercules'' (2014). He starred as Jay in the Bri ...

as DC Asim Fry *Faye Castelow as DS Jenny Roberts *Joseph Macnab as DC Sam Myers *

Mimi Ndiweni Mimî Michelle Ndiweni (born 31 August 1991), since 2021 credited as Mimî M. Khayisa, is a British-Zimbabwean actress. She is best known for playing Fringilla Vigo in Netflix's ''The Witcher'', Tilly Brockless in the television series ''Mr S ...

as DC Andrea Reed *

Michael Wildman Michael Wildman is a British actor. He appeared in the film '' Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix''. He played the role of aggressive, feisty centaur Magorian. Prior to accepting this role, Wildman was in the West End playing Lance Corpo ...

as DI Martin Brook *

Tanya Reynolds Tanya Louise Reynolds (born 4 November 1991) is an English actress. She landed her first major role as a series regular on the Sky 1 comedy-drama ''Delicious (TV series), Delicious'' (2016–2019). Reynolds gained further prominence for portrayi ...

as Sally *Annabel Bates as Jill Parides *Charlotte Dylan as Cassie Hughes * Richard Cunningham as Brian Sweeney *Lucy Chappell as Kerri *Michael Sardine as Dr Jonas Borner

Episodes

Production

Harry Williams and Jack Williams began writing Rellik while they were filming and editing the first series of ''The Missing''. "We didn't want it to be a technical exercise," the pair remarked, "so we had to ask ourselves why you'd tell a story that way. It became clear quite quickly that it was all about motive. That things happen for a reason and those reasons lie in the past. So, what happens when you start at the end and find your way back to the past sounded like an interesting thing to explore."

Reception

Initial reaction after the first episode were mixed: some people struggled to understand the programme's style. Episode one's consolidated viewing figure of 4.96 million fell to 2.82 million for episode two and subsequent episodes failed to register at all in the top 30 programmes for the week on BBC1. However, after the show's finale, it received acclaim from critics.

References

External links

* * {{Cinemax 2017 British television series debuts 2017 British television series endings 2010s British crime television series 2010s British drama television series BBC high definition shows BBC television dramas 2010s British television miniseries English-language television shows Television series about fictional serial killers Cinemax original programming