ITV has launched a new crime series that is set to hook viewers with twists aplenty.
‘After the Flood’ sees a Yorkshire town facing disaster following a flash flood that devastates homes, kills residents and brings hidden secrets to light.
‘Peaky Blinders’ actress Sophie Rundle takes on the lead role of Joanna Marshall, a pregnant police officer who breaks the law to discover the truth behind a mysterious murder and shocking disappearance.
Here’s all you need to know about the gripping six-part series.
What’s happening in tonight’s episode?
Runs the official synopsis: ‘Jo is troubled by Lee’s connection to Tasha and Daniel, but as she continues with her investigation, Pat grows suspicious.’
What is After the Flood about?
‘After the Flood’ sets a murder-mystery story in the context of an environmental disaster. It’s set in a Yorkshire town that’s damaged by a devastating flood, with local residents facing fatal danger, homelessness and personal tragedy.
The series opens with police officer Jo Marshall attempting to rescue a newborn baby from drowning in the flash flood. When a mysterious stranger arrives and saves the day before being swept away himself, Jo becomes determined to locate the man who seems to have vanished without a trace.
Events take a more sinister turn when an unidentified corpse is found in the elevator of a car park. The body can’t be traced and it seems the murder was committed before the town was evacuated ahead of the flood, so it’s down to police officer Jo to discover the truth.
In the background to the murder mystery, local residents tackle the damaging impact of the flood and personal lives are thrown into turmoil.
Where is ITV’s After the Flood filmed?
‘After the Flood’ is set in the fictional town of Waterside in Yorkshire, but filming actually took place across Greater Manchester and in the Peak District.
The historic Derbyshire market town of Glossop stood in for Waterside in the series, with a recently closed NatWest providing the exterior for Waterside Police Station.
The quaint, stone cottage-lined streets of Old Glossop became flowing rivers for the flooding scenes, meanwhile, with sandbags used to protect the real homes from water damage.
Also on the filming schedule was an old underground car park in Stockport, where the discovery of an unidentified corpse launches the wider mystery, and, in episode four, the town’s historic Market Hall.
‘After the Flood’ opens with a mum and her newborn stranded in the eye of the storm, shots filmed in the Stretford area of Manchester.
The riverbank sequences were filmed in the garden of a residential address in Bury, with producers having to persuade the owner to allow them to film on the property.
Other scenes that show a flooded street were filmed next to Manchester’s Trafford Centre, with lead actor Sophie Rundle describing the set as ‘a huge water tank with two pretend houses on either side’.
Dramatic scenes of the baby’s rescue, meanwhile, were filmed at the White Water Centre in Stockton-on-Tees, with a course spanning over 300 meters, powered by several 30-tonne machines pumping more than 14,000 litres of water every second.
How can I watch and how many episodes are there?
‘After the Flood’ launched on ITV1 on January 10, with weekly episodes to follow each Wednesday at 9pm until February 14. The series consists of six episodes.
Anyone too impatient to wait for more shocking twists and turns can head over to the ITVX streaming service where the full series is available now.
Is After the Flood based on a true story?
While ITV’s latest thriller is a work of fiction, the show’s creative team have revealed how they used a harrowing true story for one of ‘After the Flood’s most chilling storylines.
Writer Mick Ford said the idea of a dead body being found in a lift was inspired by a couple’s tragic demise in Tel Aviv.
‘They went down in the lift into a flash flood which fused the electrics and they drowned,’ says Ford. ‘I took that and then that fed into how did the body get there? Who put the body there?’
The series also deals with the all-too-real impact of climate change on the residents of the town. ‘I found this picture of a town in Yorkshire, which was in a flash flood, and it was just this rage of water coming between houses. It was important to get that impact. We are talking about things that can’t be denied,’ explains series writer Mick Ford.
Who stars in After the Flood?
Sophie Rundle plays Jo Marshall, juggling an intense police career with an even more chaotic personal life as she prepares to welcome her first child. Sophie’s previous screen credits include ‘The Diplomat’, ‘Gentleman Jack’, and ‘Peaky Blinders’.
Matt Stokoe plays Jo’s husband and fellow cop Pat. The actor previously starred opposite Hollywood heavyweights Chris Pine and Aaron Taylor-Johnson in the Netflix medieval epic Outlaw King.
‘Bridgerton’ and ‘Silent Witness’ actress Lorraine Ashbourne plays Jo’s mother Molly, and Jonas Armstrong (BBC’s ‘Robin Hood’) appears as Lee Ellison, a man of mystery who saves a baby from drowning in the thrilling opening scene, but then vanishes without a trace.
The cast also features ‘Life of Mars’ star Philip Glenister as a property tycoon and Jacqueline Boatswain as an ambitious local councillor.
What are critics saying about After the Flood
Radio Times calls it a 'thoroughly entertaining watch with a strong mission statement', while The Guardian writes that it leaves you with the 'rare and delightful sense that you are unexpectedly being served something much, much better than it needs to be'.
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