Based on the Vertigo series by the late Si Spencer and artists Meghan Hetrick, Dean Ormston, Tula Lotay, and Phil Winslade (whose recognition sadly gets buried in the end credits), Netflix’s new British sci-fi thriller Bodies imagines what happens when the same corpse appears in London in 1890, 1941, 2023, and 2053. Let’s dive in, but as always, a reminder that if you’re new here, spoilers follow…
1. The More Things Change…
The first episode is spent primarily in the first three time periods, introducing us to the respective police detectives who find the bod(ies): Victorian inspector Alfred Hillinghead (Andor‘s Kyle Soller), World War II’s Charles Whiteman (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd), and the present day’s Shahara Hasan (Amaka Okafor). Hasan is a Muslim woman who’s ordered to watch a far-right rally during what was supposed to be her day off; Whiteman is a Jew frequently subjected to antisemitic taunting by his colleague Farrell; and Hillinghead is all but confirmed as being a closeted gay man.
As well as the bigotry and criminalization that surrounds them, we also see how our detectives’ jobs put them at odds with the communities that they’re a part of, or should be part of, with the hunts for the apparent killers in 1890 and 2023 leading to Hasan betraying Syed’s family’s trust, and Hillinghead arresting journalist Henry Ashe because of his sexuality. Far from being copaganda, we see how corruption and complicity in the force have always compounded discrimination, and it’s probably not a coincidence that when we finally meet Shira Haas as Iris Maplewood at the end of the episode in 2053, the imagery of Stephen Graham’s politician leaves us with the sense Britain has become an Orwellian state.
2. British TV With Netflix Money
I’ve seen a few reviews comment this feels more like a typical British procedural than a Netflix original, to which I say, really? BBC, ITV and Channel 4 really must’ve upped their drama spending, because this had an intense depiction of the Blitz, aerial shots of the Luftwaffe and all, and that was only halfway through the episode. The show also really looks like a strip of panels on a comics page, between the use of splitscreen and the wide aspect ratio, and the strong saturation of the colors, making it look far more stylized than a typical British network drama. Say what you will about Netflix (#SAGAFTRAstrong!), but they know how to give the budget needed on the day.
3. A Truly Unsettling Conspiracy
All of the episode’s three main protagonists receive ominous warnings of something far more sinister going on than a mere murder, from Hillinghead’s colleague Ladbroke panicking after recognizing the reflection in Ashe’s photograph of the body, Whiteman being threatened to drop the case, and Syed taking his own life after confessing he was hired to lead Hasan to the body.
For me, what really demonstrated how powerful the conspiracy around the body was the fact they gave Syed a pistol in the first place: speaking as a Londoner, the only people I’ve ever seen openly carry firearms are the Metropolitan Police, so quite simply, if there was a gun on the streets, it would be incredibly bizarre. I’m not saying gun crime doesn’t happen here, but it is so rare that the sight of Syed firing off his pistol in the shopping centre was genuinely surreal.
4. What’s Up With Hillinghead’s Accent?
Seriously, Kyle Soller sounds Irish at times. He’s an American actor based in the UK — he pretty much went straight from studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to treading the boards in London — so I would hope for his sake his accent wasn’t slipping. Perhaps Hillinghead is Irish, and suppressing his accent the same way he’s repressed his sexuality: we’ll see I guess.
5. An Odd Note to Nearly End On
The final scene, where Maplewood discovers the unidentified man is alive in 2053? Great cliffhanger, perfect way to segue into the second episode. The previous scene, where we leave Hasan, Whiteman and Hillinghead as they ponder the case(s) to the sound of Dinah Washington’s “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes”? Not so much: what a hilariously campy choice after the gore and intensity of the hour beforehand (especially with how eerie Jon Opstad’s score is.)
Still, the fact that and Soller’s occasional vocal changes were my only real issues with the episode, speaks to how compelling of an opening hour it was. Hopefully it’ll maintain that level of intrigue as we continue our look at the rest of the limited series in our Boomb Tube column, which goes live every Monday afternoon. Until then, have a good weekend, and remember: “You are loved.” (Boy is that phrase never gonna sound the same again.)
