Historia Magazine

The magazine of the Historical Writers Association

  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
    • New Books
    • TV, Film and Theatre
    • One From The Vaults
  • Latest Releases
  • Columns
    • Doctor Darwin’s Writing Tips
    • Watching History
    • Desert Island Books
  • Awards
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Historia in your inbox

Review: Year of the Rabbit

14 June 2019 By Kate Griffin

Having written four books set in the East End of London in the 1880s I like to think I know a trope when I see one, and Year of the Rabbit has them in spades. In fact, they come so thick and fast in the first episode of Channel 4’s new crime comedy it’s as if writers Andy Riley and Kevin Cecil (Veep) have taken a shovel to the seedy seamy streets of Victorian Limehouse and flung the cliché-crusted muck at the screen.

This is, of course, a very good thing. As is the casting of glorious Matt Berry in title role of Detective Inspector Rabbit. Imagine a beefy, bleary cross between John Thaw in The Sweeney and Bill Sikes and you’ll get the idea.

The opening scene, a violent interrogation of a ‘nonce’, turns out to be DI Rabbit concluding a ‘friendly’ school visit. (Working Together for a Safer City is the mission statement framed on the wall of his superior’s office.)

Leaving the teacher broken and bleeding at his desk, Rabbit turns to the class and asks rows of delighted smudge-faced moppets: “Now, who wants to see how we fish opium out of a sailor’s arse?”

The tone is set for a gleefully subversive first episode that manages to shoehorn the staples of Victorian crime – murdered women, swirling fog, secret societies, erotic back-street cabaret and sinister toffs to mention just a few – into 30 profanity-packed minutes of (almost) pitch perfect black comedy.

Year of the Rabbit doesn’t just skewer Victoriana. Devotees of TV crime of all eras will have spotted the well-trodden paths expertly parodied here. Initially, Rabbit is unhappy to be saddled with a new, university-educated sidekick, Wilbur Strauss, played by a delightfully dim-witted, wide-eyed Freddie Fox.

His rival and arch enemy within the department, DI Tanner – Paul Kaye ripping up the scenery with his teeth – is a corrupt copper.

Rabbit’s bluff northern boss Superintendent Wisbech, Alun Armstrong, is continually infuriated by the incompetent drunken employee he describes as “a leg of fuckwit ham”.

Wisbech’s clever, foul-mouthed daughter Mabel – the wonderfully deadpan Susan Wokoma – is determined to be accepted as the first female copper in her father’s male chauvinist team. In an ear-catching cascade of Victorian slang pastiche, Mabel suggests that she might be “a fopper, a lady filth, a bacon dolly, a femiplod, fillyfuzz, femifuzz, bobby dolly…”

One of the great joys of Year of the Rabbit, is the language. Not just the unfettered swearing that punctuates almost every line, (a warning here to those of delicate sensibilities), but also the script’s tumbling, new-minted confection of crypto-Dickensian metaphors, similes and words.

It doesn’t just sound good, it looks great too. The dingy rooms, candlelit taverns and streets of Victorian Limehouse, complete with urchins selling London fog at “tuppence a jar”, are convincing, even when something as anachronistic as a bicycle is slyly included as a bit of hipster decoration in a gin stand-up.

The writers, who include Berry himself, know their stuff and are having fun. Just occasionally I wonder if they are having more fun than the viewers, but that’s a very small criticism.

Everything you could want in a bizarre mash-up of The Sweeney, Sherlock Holmes, Ashes to Ashes and Ripper Street is here, including an outrageously theatrical outing for the Elephant Man, John Merrick, who seems to be one of Rabbit’s prime informants.

Obsessed by jam tarts and camp as Glastonbury with Kylie on the Pyramid stage, Merrick “don’t freak for free”, even though what Rabbit calls his “big head” appears to be the repository of all manner of useful leads. The consistently brilliant David Dawson – also of Ripper Street – is beneath the prosthetics, and I hope Rabbit needs his help again.

The first episode concludes with a sighting of an arch-villainess played by Keeley Hawes (remember that mention of Ashes to Ashes?) A Moriarty in moire taffeta, she’s clearly a wrong ‘un.

Hang on to your bustles, folks, this is going to be a trip down a wild rabbit hole.

Year of the Rabbit is on Channel 4 at 10pm from 10 June, 2019.

Images: all kindly supplied by Channel 4 Press

Kate Griffin reviews Year of the Rabbit for Historia magazine

Kate Griffin’s first book, Kitty Peck and the Music Hall Murders (winner of the 2012 Faber and Faber /Stylist Magazine crime fiction writing competition) was published in July 2013. The sequel, Kitty Peck and the Child of Ill Fortune, was published in July 2015 and book three in the series, Kitty Peck and the Daughter of Sorrow, in July 2017.

She is currently working on a fourth Kitty Peck book.

Under the name Cate Cain, she has also published two historical mystery books for children, The Jade Boy and The Moon Child (both published by Templar).

Follow Kate on Twitter.

Read her review of the BBC TV adaptation of Les Miserables.

See Historia’s interview with Kate.

Share this article:Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Email this to someone
email

Filed Under: Features, Lead article, Reviews, TV, Film and Theatre Tagged With: 19th century, comedy, Kate Griffin, TV review, Year of the Rabbit

Search

Latest Releases

Widows of the Ice by Anne Fletcher

15 May 2022

Privilege by Guinevere Glasfurd

12 May 2022

The Fallen Sword by AJ Mackenzie

12 May 2022

See more new releases

Let’s stay in touch

Sign up for our monthly email newsletter:

Or follow us on social media:

Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook

Editor’s Picks

Building better humans? Eugenics and history

1 September 2021

Historia Q&A: Rachel Hore

3 April 2018

Historia Interviews: Tom Williams and Paul Fraser Collard

13 December 2016

Popular Topics

16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 2020 Ancient Rome Andrew Taylor Anglo-Saxons author interview biography book review Catherine Hokin ebook Emma Darwin Giveaway historical crime historical fiction history HWA HWA Crown Awards HWA Debut Crown Award HWA Non-Fiction Crown interview Katherine Clements London Matthew Harffy medieval new release paperback research review Second World War Shortlist short stories the writing life Tudors TV drama TV review Vikings writer's life writing writing advice writing tips WWII

The Historical Writers’ Association

Historia Magazine is published by the Historical Writers’ Association. We are authors, publishers and agents of historical writing, both fiction and non-fiction. For information about membership and profiles of our member authors, please visit our website.

Read more about Historia or find out about advertising and promotional opportunities.

ISSN 2515-2254

Recent Additions

  • Widows of the Ice by Anne Fletcher
  • Privilege by Guinevere Glasfurd
  • The Fallen Sword by AJ Mackenzie

Search Historia

Contact us

If you would like to contact the editor of Historia, please email editor@historiamag.com.

Copyright © 2014–2022 The Historical Writers Association