The BritBox original series, McDonald and Dodds—a British crime drama whose setting is the historic city of Bath—ran for four seasons. There will not be a fifth. And that’s a bummer.
To begin with, four seasons may sound significant, but they were only comprised of eleven total episodes. Each episode did run 90+ minutes, enough time to present a compelling story, which McDonald and Dodds did, especially in the final season. For context, check out my post, “Can You Take a Bath in Bath?”
ON SCREEN AND IN LIFE
In a nutshell, an ambitious London cop, Lauren McDonald (Tala Gouveia)—a young black woman—has been promoted to DCI (Detective Chief Inspector) and sent to the tourist city of Bath to serve in the West of England Constabulary. Her CS (Chief Supervisor) is a sexist asshole who will do everything in his power to see that she fails. (Fortunately, the new CS in seasons 3-4 is a woman.)
McDonald reluctantly listens to Dodds.
Among the tactics of the initial CS is burdening the talented McDonald with DS (Detective Sergeant) Dodds (Jason Watkins), an older man who for years has done little more than sit behind a desk performing menial tasks. He is set in his ways and has some annoying habits, which drives McDonald crazy. He is also a brilliant analytical mind, much underused, and as the pair works out their differences they develop into an outstanding team of detectives, solving the most challenging crimes. Ultimately, the sexism and ageism become a thing of the past.
Yes, but that’s on screen. What about in life? The show was canceled for a “decline in ratings,” which means that a whole lot of people stopped watching it. There are probably a number of reasons for that, but given the climate in this country, if not the world, could it be that people did not want to see a highly competent black woman succeed? Could it be that people did not want to see a senior citizen, who in their purview should have been put out to pasture a long time ago, display such a sharp and useful mind?
Five went up; four came down. Tough case.
If those are the reasons for canceling McDonald and Dodds, then what a shame!