An American policeman in England? Can it go well? Especially if he is also called Wild Bill? That sounds like a crashing Crash of Cultures, but it’s not at all, because the British crime series tends to make you smile and finds a great main character in Rob Lowe.
Executive Producer
- Rory Aitken
- Dudi Appleton
- Tim Carter
- David Griffiths
- Jim Keeble
- Kyle Killen
- Rob Lowe
- Eleanor Moran
- Scott Pennington
- Keith Redmon
-Rob Lowe had what it takes to become a big star. He made his cinema debut in 1983 in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders, including alongside Tom Cruise. With «St. Elmo’s Fire »he catapulted himself into the Champions League of the young stars of the 1980s in order to be able to cut his career sail after two sex scandals at the end of the decade. So this Rob Lowe is an American in Boston. Boston, Lincolnshire. The tranquil city has its problems. She is a crime hotspot (in the series), she is a Brexeeters stronghold (also in reality) and her police apparatus is far too bloated and busy with herself (in the series). No wonder that no one in the city wants to be Chief Constable, the senior police officer. Now there is actually a law that allows Irish citizens or Canadians (as Commonwealth citizens) to apply for police services in the United Kingdom.
In the “Wild Bill” series, this law is quickly expanded, and so it is an American who takes on the orphan position of the Chief Constable: Bill Hixon. And it doesn’t fit into the cliché of the Hau-Drauf cop. Hixon is charming, eloquent, educated. The widowed father of a 14-year-old daughter had his last job in Miami. There he was an analyst, he basically only knows the street from his training. Hixon is a data collector, a man who creates profiles that the police want to digitize. This is precisely why the city council hired him. He should lead the police into the 21st century, modernize the investigation methods ?? and thin out the police apparatus. Terminations included. There is no question that this does not necessarily make him popular among his subordinates.
It is quite beneficial to see how the series undermines the expectations of the audience from the start. An American in the UK? In 1975 it was none other than the Duke himself, John Wayne, who stirred up London. In his only non-American film «Brannigan ?? Steel Man »did he just give this Lieutenant James Brannigan ?? a tough boarder from Chicago who is chasing a violent criminal who fled the United States in the British capital. «Brannigan ?? Man of Steel is tough when it comes to action, but also extremely fickle when the rude Chicago cop, of course never unarmed, even in the United Kingdom, meets a cultured British chief commander who was none other than Baron Richard Attenborough British Awarded understatement.
No, Bill Hixon really has little in common with this Lieutenant James Brannigan. England is a fresh start for Bill. There is the death of his wife, which he still has not processed properly. And then something happened: with his daughter – and a video that went viral. What exactly could be seen in the video remains open. In any case, when he faced the boy responsible for the video, Bill probably wasn’t acting as a cop, but as a father. Why did he get into trouble with the Miami police and start over for himself ?? and above all his daughter – not only changed the city, but also the continent.
So Bill will soon have to deal with the peculiarities of the British police system. For example the fact that there is no modern forensic institute in his Boston and much is still done by hand. must be done. Yes, that’s exactly why the authorities brought someone like him: he’s the technocratic modernizer.
But then something happens that Bill did not expect: he becomes a real police officer.
In fact, Bill is a theorist, a desk investigator. And as the boss of the police, he has other things to do than solve crimes on the street. Until Angie is at his front door. Angie is the mother of an adolescent who has apparently been murdered.
Disappeared years ago, her severed head is found in a refrigerator. However, it quickly becomes clear that the “head owner” has such a low IQ that he would not be able to commit a murder ?? yes, you have to assume that he actually thought the head was a sculpture that he froze for durability. Bill, the analyst, is overwhelmed by the situation and so it is his daughter Kelsey who saves the situation. It is early evening, Bill has an evening appointment, he needs someone to take care of Kelsey that evening and asks Kelsey Angie if she doesn’t want to spend the evening with her. It is Kelsey who gives Angie a smile. That moment ignites a fire in Bill; he is biting into the case ?? to the surprising, tragic breakup.
One can complain that “Wild Bill” does little to get out of the fact that this Bill is an American. Basically, Bill Hixon could also be a Scotsman or Welshman in England. Someone who strangers with some peculiarities of the English. But nothing more. On the other hand, the series, by undermining this expectation, offers Rob Lowe a lot of space to create a character for whom it is very easy to develop sympathy as a viewer. The new beginning that he is making in England is not just a spatial one. Rather, the cool analyst discovers his own humanity in the coastal city. An aspect that his police work has so far been lacking. The moment Angie stands in front of him, the data he normally gathers suddenly get a face. The cool analyst himself begins to investigate the traces on site. He wants to know what happened. And as tragic as the resolution of this first case may be, by clarifying the fate of the dead daughter, he experiences what it means to be a good police officer, someone whom people can trust.
Almost unusual in today’s series jungle is the fact that each episode actually tells a self-contained crime case. Is there a story about a homeless man who has lost his memory wandering around the city ?? and turns out to be a fantastic pianist, whose dexterity captivates people, but who obviously has a dark secret in him. Or there is the librarian whose father once disappeared without a trace. Is he possibly a wanted thief who went into hiding 15 years ago and is now up to mischief in Boston and robbing seniors? If so, what does his daughter possibly have to do with his actions?
Again and again the stories succeed in creating tension, but at the same time bringing in space for humorous moments. Those moments that contrast the different ways of thinking and acting of the British and the Americans and which ensure the rather relaxed narrative tone of the series. That does not quite do without cross-episode moments. In addition to Bill’s job of repositioning the police, there is his little war with Oleg Kraznov (portrayed by German actor Aleksandar Jovanovic), a Russian businessman who acts as a kind of godfather to Boston and repeatedly gets in the Bill’s way.
Despite all the sympathy for the main character, the big shortcoming of the series cannot be overlooked, however: “Wild Bill” is courtesy television. A nice policeman with a nice daughter solves cases in the English province. «Wild Bill» is missing a spark that would really spark interest. “Wild Bill” is entertaining and, with Rob Lowe, offers a charismatic protagonist who easily knows how to carry the series on his shoulders. But something really igniting is missing. The framework story with Oleg Kraznov never seems really exciting, but rather constructed. There’s an unpleasant gangster who doesn’t want to be disturbed in his business. The protagonist needs an antagonist. This cannot be criticized purely for technical reasons, but is also not original. Kraznov lacks depth for this, his actions are too predictable.
In Britain, the series started with almost six million viewers, to have halved this number in the end. The producing broadcaster ITV therefore announced in November 2019 that it did not want to produce a second season.
In the end, a strong leading actor is remembered. Not every series can say that about itself. But it is not enough for a long series life.
ZDFneo will broadcast the first two episodes on Friday evening (July 31), followed by episodes three to six, each in a double pack, on the following two Fridays. From August 1 (10 a.m.), the entire series will be available for one month in the ZDF media library.
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