The Responder: Martin Freeman’s descent into furious nihilism makes for gripping viewing

The career of Martin Freeman arguably peaked when he was cast as the star of Peter Jackson’s Hobbit movies. Since playing Bilbo Baggins, it’s been all downhill for Mr Underhill – which is a shame as nobody does a better grumpy everyman. The problem is perhaps that grumpy everymen are not characters we necessarily want on our screens. They are hard to warm too, are invariably self-destructive – and if we look too closely, we may see, in their turbocharged peevishness, our own disagreeable reflections gazing back.

All of this makes Tony Schumacher’s The Responder (BBC One, Suinday, 9pm) both a tough watch and a rare treat. This is a show about an archetype once commonplace on TV: a middle-aged man raging against an unfair and indifferent world. But we tend not to see much of characters such as Freeman’s adrift Merseyside copper Chris Carson nowadays – a shame as his descent into furious nihilism makes for gripping viewing.

The Responder is theoretically a police procedural. What it really is, however, is an unflinching study in middle-life ennui. Series one introduced us to Carson as a policeman-on-the-take trying to keep his unravelling marriage together. The new season takes up the story six months later. Carson has separated from Kate (MyAnna Buring), who is threatening to move to London with their daughter, where a new job potentially awaits.

Faced with losing his family, Carson lies and says he’s been assigned back to the day shift. No more nights, which means more time with the family. But nobody at the local station wants anything to do with him because he’s so disagreeable, so he’s stuck working the wee hours.

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He’s also trying to negotiate a problematic relationship with his once abusive father, now a tragic old man who spends his days watching TV reruns. Carson senior is portrayed by Bernard Hill, aka King Théoden from The Lord of the Rings whose death was announce on Sunday – resulting in the unusual sight of the Lord of Rohan sharing a passive-aggressive cuppa with the former resident of Bag End.

The Responder later reunites us with the dodgy duo Casey and Marco (Emily Fairn and Josh Finan), small-time drug dealers who drew Chris into their inept schemes in series one. They are up to their old tricks once again – and could potentially bring the wrath of the Liverpool underworld down on their heads.

The Responder is a crime show without much crime – Carson spends most of his time as a policeman dealing with drunks and drug addicts, rather than cracking cases. Still, as a portrait of a sad middle-aged man losing his grip on reality it is riveting – thanks to Schumacher’s gritty script but even more so to Freeman’s unshowy performance. He’s not afraid to come across as unlikeable, and that honesty gives The Responder its raw-boned power.