Marcella

Marcella wakes to a sudden end to her marriage when her husband Jason tells her he no longer loves her, leaving her stunned and adrift. With her family life fractured and her relationships with her 13 year old daughter and 10 year old son strained, she goes back to the Metropolitan Police Murder Squad after a decade away. Ten years earlier she paused a fast rising career to prioritize marriage and home, and now she channels her shock and grief into work, throwing herself into complex homicide investigations as a way to keep from unravelling. The show follows her professional comeback while her personal life slowly falls apart.

First broadcast in 2016, Marcella was created by Hans Rosenfeldt and Nicola Larder and stars Anna Friel as the title detective, with Nicholas Pinnock, Ray Panthaki, Sinéad Cusack and Amanda Burton supporting. The series was produced in the UK and positioned as a dark, character driven crime drama for British television.

Anna Friel's intense lead performance drew attention from critics and award bodies, earning the show nominations within UK television circles, particularly for acting. Specific wins varied by year and territory, but the series became a showcase for Friel's range.

Marcella influenced the landscape of British crime TV by pushing a moodier, more psychologically focused tone, and it helped cement Friel's reputation for playing difficult, morally ambiguous female leads. Certain scenes and the show's tense atmosphere stuck with viewers, and it prompted public conversation about policing, parenting and personal collapse in mainstream drama.

Critics gave mixed to generally positive reviews, reflected in a vote average around 6.9 out of 10, praising the central performance while noting uneven plotting at times. Recurring themes include the cost of career choices, the aftermath of marriage breakdown, the pressures of single parenthood, and how personal trauma can shape investigative instincts, all set against procedural police work and moral ambiguity.