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C.B. Strike (2017)

2017 · Crime,Drama,Mystery · crime-detective-puzzle, crime-procedural

C.B. Strike poster

C.B. Strike is a measured, cerebral British crime drama adapted from J.K. Rowling's Galbraith novels, following damaged private detective Cormoran Strike and his sharp assistant Robin Ellacott through complex, multi-episode whodunit cases set across London and the English countryside. Its tone sits firmly in the genteel-but-serious tradition of Poirot and Midsomer, favoring dialogue and deduction over action and spectacle. The show's primary appeal is the lived-in chemistry between Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger, whose flawed, relatable partnership anchors each serial. Cinematography is consistently praised, and the London locations are used with atmosphere. Reviewers value its intelligence, pacing, and emotional authenticity — a show demanding full attention to dialogue.

From the reviewers

its slow but never time-wasting character developments, its high-on-thinking and low-on-physical-violence story, and its beautiful camera work
Tom Burke and Holiday Grainger are a stand out team in what could easily have been a tawdry run of the mill Detective trawl.
The pacing manages too drag the fashionable locations and characters into the gutter along with him, humanising them all in his search for the truth
The Brits have a particular style to how they go about their crime dramas, an angle which places a concentration and importance on drawing out character, a recognition that the journey to the conclusion is as important as the resolution
Strike is as much a highly successful human drama series as it is a crime and whodunnit proposition

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