Sharon D Clarke is having a really good year. Her upcoming role in the Wicked movie aside, the Showtrial star has had some gorgeously nuanced and interesting parts in some incredible TV shows like Lost Boys and Fairies and Mr Loverman.
Her new detective series Ellis sees her take the lead – but unlike the series mentioned above, surprisingly it's not a strong outing for Clarke's latest show.
Off the back of the exquisite Mr Loverman, where Clarke's brilliant performance felt soul-deep, Ellis feels underwhelming, despite the potential to be rich and gripping.
The show centres on Clarke's DCI Ellis, who temporarily joins a new police force during a tricky time in her life. As the official synopsis details, this "Black female cop is used to being dismissed and overlooked," which is evident from the jump.
Racial and sexist bias within the workplace is a hugely important topic, and having those conversations play out on screen gives the opportunity for real-life conversations to take place. However, there's something a little too blunt and on the nose about the show's execution of the discrimination Ellis faces.
Some may argue that it mirrors the thinly veiled nature of the hostility in reality, yet Ellis' peers' response to her as a person and her authority play off a little like a pantomime – we get it, the bigot is behind you (and in front, to the left and to the right).
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The larger mystery in the show's two-hour debut episode also had the foundations to be intriguing. A murder coupled with a missing persons case sends Ellis down a twisty rabbit hole, as she searches desperately for answers as to what happened to two teenagers.
The fact that she's met with resistance at every step of the way by the detective whose case she usurped does not perturb her. During her search for answers, we meet the ensemble cast who make up the victims' friends and families – and it is through them and Ellis' determination that the mystery takes shape.
There are lies, secrets and deceitfulness afoot, which direct the flow of the story as Ellis tries to work the problem through which plot twists emerge. These twists would, under normal circumstances, be the hook that keeps viewers engaged. However, they are let down by the characters, who are excruciatingly one-dimensional.
The actors do their best to infuse their characters with emotional depth. However, the show doesn't take the time to build their characters, to give us a sense of who they are and why we should care about them.
And so ultimately, we don't feel their plight as deeply as we should. In turn, it causes the pacing to feel slow as we are dragged from scene to scene.
It's a little better with Clarke's Ellis. This first episode teases family issues and an unconfronted, troubling past – so it's easier to understand her character and project reasons upon her motives.
Clarke has this pleasing way of ebbing and flowing between softness and no-nonsense determination to reflect the different sides to Ellis. Still, even with all that, the show could go deeper.
Her working relationship with her subordinate DS Chet Harper (Andrew Gower) is one of the bright spots. It starts and ends in a way that's a little too cliché, but the middle is really enjoyable as they find their footing working together and understanding one another.
The mystery is resolved by the end of the episode but despite a long lead-up to it – with several possibilities explored – the resolution feels rushed, as though Ellis puts the pieces together too conveniently. The problem wraps up too fast and too neatly, and so it feels dissatisfying.
Ellis is a three-part series (of which we've only seen episode one), so there's certainly room for the show to find its feet and for it to delve more deeply into characterisation.
We could see more fleshed-out versions of the key players start to emerge as Ellis picks up pace – but for now, that remains to be seen.
Ellis premieres on Thursday, October 31 at 8pm on Channel 5 and streaming service My5.
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TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.
