Created for Britain’s Channel 4 by Paul Abbott, this gritty, sometimes darkly humorous police procedural focuses on a squad of detectives in the Manchester PD, headed by Inspector Viv Deering (Joanna Scanlan), a voluble woman not above using very unorthodox methods to not merely solve cases but also protect members of her team. The overarching plotline of the first season focuses on efforts to capture a serial killer who has been murdering young girls who have Down syndrome. While pursuing leads on that case, the squad also deals with others, including the death of a Pakistani woman in an arson fire (which initially looks like a hate crime), a drug ring, black market organ trafficking, and modern-day slavery. One of the series’ most potent elements is that the team members are flawed, fallible people whose personal problems often interfere with their duties, and many of the subplots center on individual detectives, most notably Dinah Kowalska (Elaine Cassidy), who has just muffed a chance at promotion and has taken in an assault victim who may be repressing information about her attacker. The revelations in the final episodes, moreover, force even Deering to take risks that endanger her own domestic situation, as well as her job. The mixture of hard-boiled drama and raunchy comedy in No Offence makes for engrossing viewing. Compiling all eight episodes from the 2015 debut season, extras include a behind-the-scenes featurette and deleted scenes. Recommended. [Note: No Offence: Series 2 is also newly available.] (F. Swietek)
No Offence: Series 1
RLJ, 3 discs, 381 min., not rated, DVD: $49.99
No Offence: Series 1
Star Ratings
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