The past can be an unforgiving place, but running away from it can see it turning up as an unwelcome guest in the present. A move from the hustle and bustle of London to the picturesque Scottish highlands was meant to signal a fresh start for John and his family, but as six-part British series Coldwater unfolds, it becomes clear that the hold of the past isn’t that easy to shake, and the simple life they were seeking is anything but.
John (The Walking Dead’s Andrew Lincoln) is haunted by a traumatic encounter in a London playground that saw him gripped by panic and subsequently plagued by the guilt of abandoning his daughter amidst the chaos. The violence of what he witnessed, and his subsequent inaction, is a memory that plays on repeat, and leaves the father of two unsure of who he is as a parent and a person. Life in London proves to be a continuous reminder of his perceived failing. Unable to spend his life looking over his shoulder, John knows that something has to change.
By contrast, life in the remote Scottish village of Coldwater offers an uncomplicated existence, a far cry from the demands of the city. It appears to be the ideal solution, allowing John to literally and emotionally distance himself from the trauma of everything that has happened and start over in a place where nobody knows his story. For John’s wife Fiona (The Night Manager star Indira Varma), the move is a chance to get her husband back, rebuild their family life, and explore new career opportunities, though leaving London behind isn’t without some resentment; switching to a slower pace of life is an adjustment that would test even the strongest marriage.
As with any small community, the arrival of a new family from London immediately piques the interest of their Coldwater village neighbours, particularly local vicar Rebecca (Eve Myles) and her husband Tommy (Ewen Bremmer). Tommy quickly senses that John is hiding something about his past, and immediately sets about encouraging him to turn towards faith as the answer to his distress.
Tommy is persistent and dedicated, qualities that John undeniably needs in a friend, but it doesn’t take long before Tommy’s own secrets begin to come to the fore. Rebecca, too, is far from what you’d expect of a country vicar, with an endearing eccentricity that masks a more troubling reality.
The neighbourly friendship between the two families, and growing bond between John and Tommy, is unsettling for Fiona, and her suspicions about Tommy quickly drive a wedge between her and her husband. Isolated and unsure, John is pushed further towards the loyalty Tommy offers, and his judgement becomes clouded as the man of vehement faith that he first befriended slowly reveals an identity that is altogether different. It’s a transformation that is, at first, imperceptible to John, and he isn’t prepared to let go of the one person who has his back, even if that person isn’t who he thought they were.
The mysterious death of local troublemaker Angus Gillespie (Lorn Macdonald) shocks the Coldwater community and exposes many in this small, unassuming community for who they really are. What is first labelled as a tragic accident is soon found to be the result of foul play, and John is, once again, closer to a violent crime than he would like. As he is reacquainted with the version of himself he thought he had left behind in London, the line between what is true and what is fear becomes increasingly hard to distinguish.
John’s run in with Angus at the corner shop stirred up the same paralysing terror that he experienced in the playground on that fateful day, a feeling that prevented him from taking action, and the young man’s death now becomes a confronting embodiment of all John has kept buried inside.
With Fiona already distant, the friendship with Tommy becomes a bond of necessity for John, particularly in the wake of Angus’ death, but it’s not a bond without price. As the stakes increase, and John is pulled further into Tommy’s world, he is forced to choose between confronting the darkest parts of himself, or risk forever shouldering the blame for the evil acts of those who claim to have his best intentions at heart.
There is a dark and unexpected undercurrent of humour that cuts through the intensity of Coldwater. Each character manages to be both unsettling and entertaining, and whilst John’s experience is as harrowing as crime thrillers get, the world he inhabits is almost comical in its exaggerated, but authentic depiction of village life and the personalities that comprise it. At every juncture, reactions are unpredictable, next moves are unexpected, and figuring out who to trust in this tiny Scottish town is a near impossible task.
Coldwater is now streaming at SBS On Demand.
