Made by the production behind Happy Valley and starring an alum from that show – Sophie Rundle – After The Flood does have a touch of the folksiness that made the aforementioned Sall Wainwright series such a human story. However, as the title suggests, After The Flood starts off anything but folksy.
In scenes reminiscent of a 1970s disaster movie, the fictional Yorkshire town of Waterside (yes, Waterside) comes under intense pressure when a biblical amount of rain falls from the sky and floods the entire town. PC Joanna Marshall (Rundle) and her team patrol the streets looking for those who need help. Sure enough, they come up against a Very Bad Scenario – a woman is trapped in the middle of the road, her car almost submerged by the floods. Furthermore… dun dun dun!… she has a baby in the back seat. It’s laughable, it’s eye-rollingly daft but it’s undeniably edge-of-your-seat and thrilling.
Naturally, the baby becomes unattached from her mother and bobs off down the raging torrent like a Yorkshire Moses. It takes the bravery of a random man to save it. But… the man goes missing.
We then find out that PC Jo is pregnant, which is pretty incredible when you think she wading about waist-high in scummy water and fishing babies out from the floods.
We also begin to meet the characters throughout the town – Jo’s partner, fellow police officer Pat Holman (Matt Stokoe); mystery man in the water might turn out to be a bad man in the water (Jonas Armstrong); local man Jack Radcliffe who see very briefly but is sure to play a big role in proceedings (because he’s played by Philip Glenister); Jos mum Molly (Lorraine Ashbourne)… the list goes on.
After the flood eventually subsides, a clean-up operation begins. However, Jo is called to a lift in an underground car park, where the body of a man is found. What is first thought of as a consequence of the floods turns out to be, you guessed it, murder. Because of her pregnancy (and the fact that it’s her last day on the job until maternity leave) Jo is told to leave well alone, but she can’t… to the extent that she nicks a bunch post mortem of files from a colleague’s computer and begins her own investigation. This takes the form of… uploading the photos of the dead man (complete with her own contact details) to a DNA-matching site.
Now… I know what you’re thinking. It sounds entirely implausible and it… well… it is. A great deal of disbelief has to be assuaged for this to be enjoyed. But there’s enough intrigue here – and a cast and that trademark Happy Valleyesque folksiness to keep me interested.
Paul Hirons
The Killing Times 
They crammed a lot into the first episode but are maybe trying too hard. I mean, in one episode, Lift Man, has gone from drowning in the flood to dying three days previously to dying five YEARS previously…
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Absolutely brilliant. Kept me hooked all the way through.
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