‘Harrow,’ Series One Review: A Cutting Edge Australian Mystery

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One of them crime dramas from a creative Australian team, Harrow is an underrated crime drama that may come off a little “too dark,” but is really quite good.

Harrow, Series One (2018) TV Review

Daniel Harrow (Ioan Gruffudd) is brilliant and a little bit eccentric. He’s also a source of exasperation to his boss, and colleagues. But as a prominent forensic pathologist, he’s also a man who gets results. His cases put him in close contact with a forensic police officer, Soroya Dass (Mirrah Foulkes), a feisty re-head who just may have more than a professional curiosity about the mysterious doctor.

Between work colleagues who admire or hate him; an ex-wife (Anna Lise Phillips) dealing with complicated financial problems, and a 17-year-old daughter, Fern (Ella Newton), who’s grown mysteriously distant, Daniel has quite a lot to juggle, not the least of which is an unsolved murder case that just may be his downfall.

In all likelihood I say it each and every time I review an international drama, but each and every time it’s true. These are so good. There’s something about them that makes them superior, or knowing me, perhaps it’s even a basic thing like a good English or Australian accent. One should never underestimate this!

Anytime I’m drawn to a new TV show, there’s usually a reason. Sure sometimes it’s just that the plot sounds good, but more often it’s that an actor I know has a new show, which inspires me to look it up. That is certainly true of Harrow. Gruffudd is known for British period dramas like Horatio Hornblower (one of my teenage year experiences), Dickens, and also the 2000 film adaptation of Poldark (which I have yet to see). Needless to say, making the discovery that he was in a new show (in a favorite genre) was a source of curiosity.

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Only recently did I finally see this one, a crime drama that’s certainly on the “grittier” side of its genre. Over ten cases, we follow Daniel Harrow as he works with Soroya to solve the episodic cases, but as many shows do, this one also builds a larger “arc” mystery that climaxes in dramatic final episode fashion. This portion of the story-telling is interesting, and it will keep some making wild guesses as to its truth throughout, and others will guess that truth. Since I tend to be the person who prefers less of a “big plot,” I think in the end, I found the separate cases more interesting, and the lives of the characters.

There’s a brilliant cast which includes some familiar actors (who you’ll know from Australian dramas like Newton’s Law) and the script is smart. There’s baggage in these lives, and pasts, which makes things complicated, but also is an example of intense characterization. Already on its second season overseas, I’ll be curious to see what the aftermath of season one looks like for these characters. Will it be better or no? Either way, I’m hooked and interested to see what’s next for Harrow and Co.

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You can find Harrow, Series One digitally by episode or the first season on Amazon.

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Content Note for Harrow, series one: There’s multiple uses of the F-word over the season, along with other uses of profanity. There’s some sexual content, and innuendo. We see nude bodies (corpses) 5-6 times; there’s other instances of violence (flashbacks of the way victims dies), and implications of assault and rape.