No Offence
- TV comedy drama
- Channel 4
- 2015 - 2018
- 21 episodes (3 series)
Comedy drama created by Paul Abbott which follows a police team who are trying to keep Manchester's streets clean of crime. Stars Joanna Scanlan, Alexandra Roach, Elaine Cassidy, Paul Ritter, Will Mellor and more.
Press clippings Page 4
No Offence review
No Offence is the anti-Sherlock of police procedurals.
Michael Hogan, The Telegraph, 11th January 2017Why I love No Offence
Paul Abbott's police procedural series with guts, heart and a killer sense of humour is back on Channel 4 for round two. Mickey Noonan couldn't be more chuffed.
Mickey Noonan, Standard Issue, 10th January 2017Paul Abbott gave us, with the second series of No Offence, his latest instalment of what could justifiably be termed Manc noir. The term's more relevant than it might look: subtitles were surely co-opted around much of the country, if only to net all of the glorious one-liners.
It's fast, furious, scabrous and all terrific, dirty fun, played out amid gang wars and exploding body parts, chiefly by the phenomenal Joanna Scanlon as DI Viv. She's angry, believable, and serenely unafraid to show her wobbly bits. This opener had less obvious humour than the first series - quite a few people died, quite horribly - but Abbott's gnarly ear for quick wit, as really spoken, remains... can an ear be head and shoulders above? The collective warmth of Viv's team beams from the screen in a rare way, as if the actors actually like each other in real life, and there's also the teeing up of a huge backstory regarding the death of Viv's husband. Bring it shamelessly on. It's Man City personified: blue in tooth and claw.
Euan Ferguson, The Observer, 8th January 2017No Offence review
You might not have much idea what's going on in the return of this blackly comic Manchester cop drama, but you'll have a good time anyway.
Sam Wollaston, The Guardian, 5th January 2017The return of Paul Abbott's entertaining, comedy-tinged procedural drama sees Joanna Scanlan's Viv come back from extended leave only to be plunged right into, er, the thick of it. As the extraordinary circumstances of an attempted murder at a funeral (an explosion, no less) become clear, a vicious set-to shapes up between rival gangleaders and their families. Paul Ritter's forensics expert is a particular delight amid the carnage.
David Stubbs, The Guardian, 4th January 2017Joanna Scanlan interview
As Paul Abbott's all-female cop comedy No Offence returns, its star talks putdowns, poetry - and why sexuality should stop being associated with youth.
Helen Pidd, The Guardian, 4th January 2017Preview - No Offence
No Offence was one of the surprise comedy hits of 2016. Paul Abbott's fly on the wall style crime-fighting comedy is full of sharp dialogue and strong visual humour shot not so much on the mean streets but on the less salubrious 'burbs of Manchester.
Gareth Hargreaves, On The Box, 4th January 2017We've reached peak cop drama
With Death in Paradise guilty of crimes against TV, it's lucky No Offence and Unforgotten make for arresting viewing. How far can we push this creaking genre?
Mark Lawson, The Guardian, 4th January 2017No Offence review: crime drama is back with a bang!
While it's still far too early to say if No Offence's second series is going to be a success or not I feel that Paul Abbott and the team are off to a good start.
Matt Donnelly, The Custard TV, 4th January 2017No Offence: an irresistible feast for all the senses
No Offence is the motor-mouthed brainchild of Paul Abbott. No writer so abhors a vacuum. He crammed in more dialogue than could technically fit into the hour. And yet his love of language ("Hieronymus botch job", "bipolar bear") is wonderfully infectious.
Jasper Rees, The Telegraph, 4th January 2017