Safe (titled onscreen as Harlan Coben's Safe) is a drama thriller television miniseries created by crime author Harlan Coben and written by Danny Brocklehurst, Mick Ford, Alex Ganley, and Karla Crome. The series stars Michael C. Hall, Amanda Abbington, Audrey Fleurot, Marc Warren and Hannah Arterton.
Set in England, the series is a production by Canal+, with C8 airing the show in France, and Netflix streaming the show internationally outside France. The series began filming in Manchester, Liverpool, and Cheshire in July 2017. It consists of eight episodes that premiered in 190 countries on 10 May 2018. The series' theme song is "Glitter and Gold" by Barns Courtney.
Plot Safe focuses on Briton Tom Delaney (Michael C. Hall), a paediatric surgeon and widowed father of two teen daughters. He is struggling to connect with his daughters as they still grieve the loss of his wife, Rachel (Katy Carmichael) from cancer one year prior. After his 16-year-old daughter, Jenny (Amy James-Kelly) goes missing, Tom uncovers a web of secrets as he frantically searches for her.
Cast and characters Main Michael C. Hall as Tom Delaney, a surgeon, widower to late wife Rachel, father to two daughters, Jenny and Carrie, and current boyfriend and neighbour to Sophie Amanda Abbington as Sophie Mason, police DS (Detective Sergeant) partnered to Emma, as well as ex-wife to Josh, mother to their children Henry and Ellen, family friend to the Delaneys and current girlfriend and neighbour to Tom Georgia Rose as Young Sophie Audrey Fleurot as Zoé Chahal, a French teacher accused of impropriety, wife to Neil in marital strife and mother to their children Chris and Tilly Marc Warren as Pete Mayfield, the gay best friend and fellow doctor to Tom who helps him search for Jenny Hannah Arterton as Emma Castle, police DC (Detective Constable) relocated from "the big city" and partnered to Sophie Emmett J. Scanlan as Josh Mason, ex-husband to Sophie who lives in a trailer-camper parked in her driveway, and father to their children Henry and Ellen Joplin Sibtain as Neil Chahal, husband to Zoe in marital strife and father to their children Chris and Tilly Amy James-Kelly as Jenny Delaney, 16, elder daughter to Tom, girlfriend to Chris, who goes missing at the beginning of the series
Recurring Isabelle Allen as Carrie Delaney, younger daughter to Tom Katy Carmichael as Rachel Delaney, late wife to Tom who died of terminal cancer Ellie Duckles as Young Rachel Freddie Thorp as Chris Chahal, son to Zoé and Neil, and older 19-year-old boyfriend to Jenny, who is involved in Jenny's disappearance Imogen Gurney as Tilly Chahal, daughter to Zoé and Neil Louis Greatorex as Henry Mason, teenage son to Sophie and Josh, and Jenny's friend who is knowledgeable about technology, diabetic, on dialysis, in need of a kidney transplant and under Tom's medical care, experiencing occasional seizures India Fowler as Ellen Mason, daughter to Sophie and Josh Amy-Leigh Hickman as Sia Marshall, drug-dealing classmate to Jenny who threw a party on the night she disappeared, and daughter to Jojo and Lauren Nigel Lindsay as Jojo Marshall, father to Sia and husband to her mother Lauren Laila Rouass as Lauren Marshall, mother to Sia and wife to Sia's father Jojo Karen Bryson as Helen Crowthorne, next-door neighbour to the Delaney family Leah Walker as Young Helen Ben Onwukwe as Eric Pratchett, a neighbour to the Delaney family and father to Craig, with Eric having scolded Jenny for trespassing on his lawn on the night she went missing Joe Standerline as Martin, a friendly neighbour to the Marshall family who gets caught up in their drama Milo Twomey as Archie "Bobby" Roberts, owner of a 1980s-themed bar called Heaven Joshua Akehurst as Young Bobby Steven Hillman as Sean Penvell, a bouncer who works at the bar Heaven Hero Fiennes Tiffin as Ioan Fuller, a teenager who may know something about Jenny's disappearance Rohan Nedd as Mike Lloyd-Powell, a friend to Chris who was present at Sia's party on the night of Chris's and Jenny's disappearances Tyler Conti as Scott, another one of the party-goers, whom Tom and Pete are tracking for information on Jenny's disappearance Stephen Henry as Tim Kenmore, the headmaster of the school where Zoé teaches and that Jenny and others attend, who has to deal with a story about sexual relations between a student and teacher Raj Paul as Darren, police colleague to Sophie, who shows her station CCTV footage of Jenny from the night she went missing Isabella Pinto as Dora
Guest Darren Kemp as B.O. Ben, a tech expert and friend to Tom, who helps track Jenny's GPS Joshua Riley as Young Craig Pratchett, Eric's son who was disfigured in an accident as a boy and interned in Jasmine Hall psychiatric institution for his mental issues, with Rachel visiting him regularly
Episodes
Critical response Safe has received positive reviews. It has a 71% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, based on 24 reviews. While British newspapers The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian found Hall's "odd" English accent to be a metaphor of overall peculiarities with the series, they both found many elements of the show to be entertaining. Ed Power wrote in The Daily Telegraph that Harlan Coben "makes every one of his characters feel plausibly sinister and throws in plenty of skilfully crafted cliff-hangers. Netflix's latest can be hackneyed and is written to formula, but the central mystery is assembled with a watchmaker's eye and the entire fandango whirrs by with ruthless efficiency." The Guardians Sam Wollaston wrote, "What looked at one point like it might be Netflix's Broadchurch – the disappearance of a teenager, a parent's anguish, the effect on a community, the police investigation – soon starts to look more like Desperate Housewives. I'm very much enjoying these people, without really caring about them."
Maureen Ryan of Variety praised the series, writing, "It's a highly watchable, semi-pulpy serial loaded with reveals, clues and cliffhangers, and the core cast is generally quite good." Ben Travers of IndieWire found the series entertaining and graded it a B, writing, "Safe leans into most of its increasingly preposterous moments, including Hall's accent. It's not that the show or its star's elocution are bad, per se; they just don't overwork themselves trying to convince you of their grand importance. Safe is a soap, and it's a fun diversion as such."
Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter, who based his review on the first two episodes sent to critics, criticised Hall's accent and performance, the depiction of teens and other elements of the series as all off-tone. Fienberg wrote, "It could take watching the six additional episodes to know if there's a cliché-upending payoff or if Safe is just a muddle."
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