TERRY GROSS, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. The new British crime drama "Code Of Silence," which airs on the BritBox streaming service, centers on a deaf woman asked to use her lipreading skills to help a police investigation. Things do not go as planned. Our critic at large John Powers says it's a compelling show whose heroine keeps doing things that will make you nervous.
JOHN POWERS, BYLINE: Albert Brooks once joked that if an alien landed on Earth and went to the movies, it would think we're all cops. Just imagine if the alien watched television. We have so many police shows that most producers don't even bother to seek out new bottles for the old wine. An exception is "Code Of Silence," a twisty new English crime series on the BritBox streaming service that centers on a heroine who is deaf. Now, there have been plenty of police shows featuring people with disabilities, from Raymond Burr's wheelchair-bound "Ironside" to the blind detectives in "Sight Unseen" and "Blind Justice." What makes this show interesting is that it not only stars a deaf actor, but the character she plays isn't stuck being a victim or a paragon.
Rose Ayling-Ellis plays Alison Woods (ph), a young woman who lives in Canterbury with her deaf mum and works two jobs, one in a police canteen. Having recently broken up with her deaf boyfriend, she feels bored and undervalued. Then she gets called upstairs to the precinct offices, where a detective squad asks if she can read lips. She can very well. They put her to work interpreting surveillance footage of a gang they hope to catch committing a robbery. Alison instantly becomes obsessed. Although ordered to stay in her own lane - she's there as an emergency lipreader, nothing more - she goes a bit rogue and starts investigating the case.
Like "Homeland's" Carrie Mathison, albeit without the mania, Alison soon finds herself inappropriately attracted to one of the crime gang. That's the hoodie-wearing Liam, nicely played by Irish actor Kieron Moore, a quietly charismatic techie who seems, well, soulful. Naturally, she hides what she's doing from her police handlers. Naturally, things spin out of control. Here, Alison bumps into Liam outside the bar where she works. He asks her about the guy she's just been talking to inside, and he makes her an offer she knows she should refuse.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "CODE OF SILENCE")
KIERON MOORE: (As Liam) The guy you were speaking to, is that your...
ROSE AYLING-ELLIS: (As Alison) Yeah, he's my ex.
MOORE: (As Liam) Uh huh. I got major bad vibes.
AYLING-ELLIS: (As Alison) I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so rude.
MOORE: (As Liam) It's OK. When you two were, like, signing, it made me think that's how it must be for you all the time, around, you know, people who can hear.
AYLING-ELLIS: (As Alison) Yeah. It can be like that sometimes.
MOORE: (As Liam) I was wondering, do you want to come out for a drink sometime?
AYLING-ELLIS: (As Alison) Yeah. Yeah, maybe.
POWERS: At one point, a detective warns Alison that what is exciting isn't always what's best for you. That's true of TV shows, too. As so often happens in crime stories, "Code Of Silence" is more original and suspenseful in the opening episodes that set things up than it is in the amped-up later ones designed to tie things together.
The series is a showcase for Ayling-Ellis, a groundbreaking figure in British television who, at 30, has already acted in beloved TV soaps, fronted documentaries, announced sporting events and won a British version of "Dancing With The Stars." Here, she brings a bracing complexity to Alison, a good-hearted young woman whose pleasant demeanor can't hide that beneath her sweetness, there's a tremulous romanticism and a gnawing frustration that as a deaf person, she has to keep proving her competence over and over.
Perhaps because Ayling-Ellis is one of its producers, "Code Of Silence" gives Alison a life more fully rounded than is usual in cop shows. We see her entrapment in dismal jobs, her awkward interactions with the nice-but-dull ex who wants her back and her desperate signing with her mom when it looks like they might lose their publicly owned housing to developers. And then there are her feelings for Liam, an irresponsible desire that threatens to destroy the police's case and her life.
Now, to be honest, when I first heard about "Code Of Silence," I feared it might be one of those worthy shows designed to teach me a valuable lesson. Instead, it tells a good story about a smart, underestimated woman who leaps at the chance to escape her dreary life. Unsentimental about deafness, it shows that people who are deaf can be as brave and reckless as anyone else.
GROSS: John Powers reviewed "Code Of Silence." It's streaming on BritBox.
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GROSS: FRESH AIR's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our managing producer is Sam Briger. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Roberta Shorrock, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Susan Nyakundi, Anna Bauman and John Sheehan. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Our consulting visual producer is Hope Wilson. Thea Chaloner directed today's show. Our co-host is Tonya Mosley. I'm Terry Gross.
(SOUNDBITE OF JONAH DAVID'S "RHYTHM-A-NING") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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