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Hard Sun’s shock twists and turns excite and confuse viewers

Hard Sun’s shock twists and turns excite and confuse viewers

The new BBC drama from the creator of Luther divides audiences

Huw Fullerton

Last night saw the debut episode of new BBC drama Hard Sun, a story from Luther creator Neil Cross that follows a pair of detectives (Jim Sturgess and Agyness Deyn) as they discover the human race will go extinct in just five years.

And it’s fair to say that opinion online was slightly mixed, with many viewers initially caught off guard by the shocking scenes of violence that opened the episode (where Deyn’s DI Elaine Renko was stabbed and nearly burned to death in her kitchen).

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Still, once the story proper began to unfold, things calmed down a bit – and then some viewers began to get VERY confused about what was going on as Renko and her new boss DCI Charlie Hicks (Sturgess) began investigating a murder and visiting secret lovers, while simultaneously trying to find out each others’ secret intentions.

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Still, one of the episode’s biggest twists – that Elaine’s attacker at the beginning the episode was actually her SON – was much more popular with those who had managed to follow the story.

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So by the episode’s end, when Hicks and Renko had eluded shadowy government types and discovered the apocalypse was imminent, what was the verdict? To some viewers, the story was just too clichéd, while others didn’t enjoy it for other reasons.

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However, many others absolutely loved it, and couldn’t wait for the next episode.

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(Side note: Chris Pratt seems to be the go-to gif reaction man these days, eh?)

For now, it’s fair to say that Hard Sun is an acquired taste – but for those who love it there’s good news, as the whole series is now available to watch on the BBC iPlayer website. A fact that SOME fans have been quick to pick up on…

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Sounds like it might be worth giving a few more episodes a watch before we all make our final decision.

Hard Sun continues on BBC1 next Saturday, and all episodes are available to watch on BBC iPlayer now

Authors

Radio Times commissioning editor Huw Fullerton. He sits in front of a shelving unit, looking at the camera and smiling. He wears glasses and has a moustache

Huw FullertonCommissioning editor

Huw Fullerton is a commissioning editor for Radio Times magazine handling comedy, entertainment and specialist drama. In a previous regeneration, he covered all things sci-fi and fantasy for RadioTimes.com.

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