River, BBC1 - TV review: It’s hard to feel sorry for Stellan Skarsgard’s Scandi-chic police officer

The Swedish actor cuts a relentlessly sullen figure in Abi Morgan’s latest TV drama

Scandichic: Nicola Walker as 'Stevie' and Stellan Skarsgård as John River in 'River' (Kudos)

Nicola Walker, the co-star of Last Tango in Halifax, gets another moment in the limelight in Abi Morgan's latest television drama, River. The two women are rather having a time of it. Morgan's screenplay Suffragette is in cinemas this week, while Walker is also currently starring in ITV's Unforgotten. But it is the Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård who takes centre stage as police officer John River in Morgan's eponymous crime drama.

This one is slightly different from the likes of Broadchurch and The Missing. It is still well-written and shot beautifully, but the criminal investigation is not the crux of the drama. River's mind becomes the crime scene as he struggles with psychotic hallucinations – or “manifests” as he calls them – of past victims, namely colleague Detective Jackie “Stevie” Stevenson, played by Walker.

The actress's impossibly green eyes make us question Stevie's plausibility from the start. She is instantly warm and fun, singing along to “I Love To Love” while slurping her drive-through milkshake, but she is too good to be true. Her feelgood factor is overshadowed by River, who cuts a relentlessly sullen figure with his big, puffy face. He is so emotionally distant that it's hard to even begin to feel sorry for him.

It's not quite clear what brought the Swedish officer to London. Perhaps it was the chance to fill his Scandi-chic flat with Seventies knock-backs from vintage shops in Brick Lane. His apartment is so well-designed it even has a fancy, ergonomic kitchen tap. There might be more than meets the glazed-over eyes to this solemn character after all.