Kiri (TV series)

Kiri is a four-part British television crime drama miniseries starring Sarah Lancashire. It aired on Channel 4 from 10 to 31 January 2018.

Kiri
GenreCrime
Drama
Mystery
Directed byEuros Lyn
StarringSarah Lancashire
ComposerClark
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series2
No. of episodes8
Production
CinematographyMatt Gray BSC
Release
Original networkChannel 4
Picture format16:9 1080p
Audio formatStereo
Original release10 January (2018-01-10) –
31 January 2018 (2018-01-31)

Plot

The series is set in Bristol. It centres on the abduction of Kiri Akindele (Felicia Mukasa), a nine-year-old black girl. Kiri lives with her foster parents Jim and Alice Warner (Steven Mackintosh and Lia Williams) and their teenage son Si (Finn Bennett). The Warners are a middle-class white couple who fostered her at age four and are about to adopt her. Miriam Grayson (Lancashire) is a disorganised middle-aged social worker. Kiri is in her care. Her boss is Julie Burnett (Claire Rushbrook). Kiri has been taken to the house of her paternal grandfather Tobi Akindele (Lucian Msamati) and his second wife for supervised visits once a month by Miriam, who has been investigated in relation to previous cases in which her decisions have resulted in negative outcomes. Kiri's father is 28-year-old Nathanial (Paapa Essiedu). He is a violent, drug dealing ex-convict from Peckham, London who has a history of grievous bodily harm and is not allowed to have contact with Kiri.

Episode 1; air date: 10 January

Miriam decides to grant Tobi an unsupervised visit with Kiri. After Miriam takes Kiri to Tobi, Kiri goes missing. During a police search, Kiri's strangled corpse is found on Bristol Downs. Nathanial is missing and is being sought by police, who suspect him of abducting and killing her. The media covers the case prominently, and approach Miriam when they find out about her role in it. She is questioned by her superiors, who suspend her. Tobi is taken to the mortuary by a detective to identify Kiri's body.

Episode 2; air date: 17 January

Searching for Nathanial, Tobi finds him in a brothel. Nathanial tells Tobi that he did not kill Kiri. Tobi tells the Warners that he wants to arrange the funeral with them and to bury her in a churchyard with a Christian service. They object because they are atheists. Si also becomes a suspect. Miriam tells the press that she did the right thing for Kiri.

Episode 3; air date: 24 January

The police arrest Nathanial at Tobi's house. It is discovered that after Nathanial abducted Kiri, they became separated. Si lied about where he was on the day of the abduction, and the Warners suspect that Si killed her.

Episode 4; air date: 31 January

Nathanial is charged with murdering Kiri. Si accuses Jim of killing her. Jim denies having anything to do with it, then eventually as he gets increasingly emotional, confesses, admitting that he was with her on the day – she ran away and fell accidentally and hit her head on a rock... "what was I supposed to do?"

Cast and characters
  • Felicia Mukasa as Kiri Akindele, a girl aged 9 who disappears in the first episode[1]
  • Sarah Lancashire as Miriam Grayson, a social worker caring for Kiri
  • Lucian Msamati as Tobi Akindele, Kiri's grandfather
  • Andi Osho as Rochelle Akindele, Tobi's second wife
  • Paapa Essiedu as Nathaniel Akindele, Kiri's father
  • Wunmi Mosaku as Detective Inspector Vanessa Mercer, police officer leading the investigation into Kiri's disappearance
  • Lia Williams as Alice Warner, Kiri's foster-mother and prospective adoptive mother
  • Steven Mackintosh as Jim Warner, Kiri's foster-father and prospective adoptive father
  • Finn Bennett as Simon Warner, son of Alice and Jim
  • Claire Rushbrook as Julie Burnett, Miriam's boss
  • Cara Theobold as Lucy Maxwell, a younger social worker who Miriam has mentored
  • Sue Johnston as Celia Grayson, Miriam's elderly mother

Reception

Ratings

According to Channel 4's stats released to Digital Spy on 9 February 2018, "An average of 2.1 million watched the show go out live, and it has become the biggest ever drama on All4, taking in half a million views per episode. Kiri was watched on average by 4.9 million viewers with an 18.7% audience share (including on catch-up).[2]

Episode Date Official ratings Channel 4
weekly rank
Episode 110 January3.2[3]1
Episode 217 January1
Episode 324 January1
Episode 431 January1

It was well received by television critics. However, it attracted criticism from some social workers; they perceived the programme as having a negative portrayal of their profession and said that an incompetent rule-breaker such as Miriam would not have kept her job for as long.[4]

Music

The music for the series was scored by the British artist Clark. His work for the series was recompiled in his album Kiri Variations.

References
  1. "Meet the cast of Kiri". Radio Times. Retrieved 26 January 2018.
  2. https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a849572/kiri-channel-4-most-watched-drama-all-time/
  3. https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a847251/kiri-channel-4-drama-ratings-sarah-lancashire-jack-thorne/
  4. "Social workers query abduction drama Kiri". BBC News. BBC. 11 January 2018. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
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