No Offence is a cop drama from the UK. It features a group of Manchester police who are dedicated to the job, but have interesting and sometimes funny lives as well.
Currently, you can see season 1 of No Offence on Acorn TV in the U.S. The second season is completed and aired in the UK in 2017, but is not yet on Acorn TV. Filming has begun on a 3rd season. This review is on season 1 only.
This Manchester precinct is headed by DI Vivienne Deering (Joanna Scanlan). She’s a foul-mouthed mentor to the crew under her command. Her top cops are mostly female. DS Joy Freers (Alexandra Roach) just got promoted to Sergeant. DC Dinah Kowalska (Elaine Cassidy) should have been made sergeant, but she had a bit of an accident when a suspect she was chasing got his head squashed like a melon.
Others busy in this nick include PC Stuart O’Connell (Tom Varey), PC Tegan Thompson (Saira Choudhry), DC Spike Tanner (Will Mellor), PC Jonah Mitchell (Ste Johnston), and PC Taz Ahmed (Neet Mohan).
Risteard Cooper plays Viv Deering’s husband Laurie. He’s a musician, but Viv seems to know more about music than Laurie. Many of the earthy, sexually-tinged jokes in season 1 happen between the two of them.
Some of the crimes investigated in season 1 are season long story arcs. There’s someone killing young women with Down’s Syndrome. A big drug operation needs to be taken down. There is unrest around the Muslim immigrants in the city – Sacha Dhawan played one of the characters in this crime.
Early in series 1, Dinah Kowalska takes in a teenaged crime victim named Cathy (Charlie May-Clark). Cathy gets to know Dinah’s daughter (Mia Blakeley) and mother (Hanna Bieniuszewicz). Cathy ends up playing a huge role in the final resolution of one of the crime storylines.
I enjoyed the frantic pace of the cops as they pursued criminals. The series had lots of humor mixed in with the dark crime bits. The actors were sensational. I especially loved the three female leads, Joanna Scanlon, Elaine Cassidy, and Alexandra Roach.
No Offence was created by Paul Abbott. The writers are all men, but some women have come on board as directors. They are Catherine Morshead, Misha Manson-Smith, Sarah O’Gorman, and Samira Radsi.
No Offence features good writing, likeable characters with some depth, and interesting plots. I’m ready for season 2, and hope Acorn TV adds it soon.
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