This underrated crime trilogy, originally released in 2009, is getting its flowers, and Netflix viewers have front row seats. Red Riding is a British crime drama limited series that was written by Tony Grisoni and is based on David Peace’s book series of the same name. Now, the film series has dropped on to Netflix and is garnering a whole new audience.
The film series’ synopsis reads: “The Red Riding Trilogy is a series of three British crime drama films that explore police corruption and organised crime in Yorkshire during the 1970s and 1980s, set against the backdrop of the Yorkshire Ripper murders. The films blend fact and fiction, incorporating elements of conspiracy theories as they follow various characters through a bleak and violent landscape.”
The first of the three parts, Red Riding 1974, stars Andrew Garfield and follows Eddie Dunford, a journalist who is determined to find the truth in an increasingly complex web of lies and deceit surrounding the police investigation, corruption and a series of child abductions. It has scored a perfect 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes from the critics.
One critic described the series as “sinister and complex”.
“Red Riding is not to be grasped, followed, or understood-that’s why you need to see it,” another added.
Sean Bean, Robert Sheehan and Anthony Flanagan star alongside Garfield in the first part.
The second, Red Riding 1980, has scored an impressive 93% rating from the critics on Rotten Tomatoes. Its synopsis reads: “Six years after his first visit to Yorkshire, England, detective Peter Hunter (Paddy Considine) returns to look into the town’s high murder rate. Though the deaths have been occurring with alarming regularity over the years, the police have done little to find the killer, who’s now known as the Yorkshire Ripper. As Hunter discovers mysterious irregularities in the case, he realises corrupt police officers (David Morrissey, Warren Clarke) are doing everything they can to stop his investigation.”
And the third part, Red Riding 1984, follows John Piggott, a former solicitor who unwittingly provides a catalyst for Detective Chief Superintendent Maurice Jobson to start to right some wrongs. Some of the former cast come back for this chapter. Its synopsis reads: “Ten years after the body of a mutilated girl was found in Yorkshire, another young girl is missing. Lawyer John Piggott (Mark Addy) is asked to re-examine the conviction of a disabled man who confessed to the earlier murders and now claims he dis so under intense police pressure. As Piggott looks into whether the Yorkshire police tortured their suspect, Detective Jobson (Morrissey) starts to regret his brutal past and reveals a secret that casts the entire case in a new light.”
The Red Riding Trilogy is available to watch now on Netflix.