Streaming series review - Curfew

Curfew **1/2 (out of 5) If you like a whole lotta cultural relevance and speculative fiction with your murder mysteries, this British series might just be what the sociologist ordered. It’s set in a contemporary alternate England. Violence against women has become so intolerable that they enacted a three-year program with two Draconian aspects. The lesser is that couples aren’t allowed to marry until they’ve undergone extensive tests and interviews for compatibility and temperament to minimize the odds of domestic abuse.

The main subject is a strict curfew on all men from 7 pm to 7 am, enforced by mandatory ankle monitors like those for convicted felons on house arrest. Every guy 10 or older must wear one. As the story begins, the trial period for the legislation is nearing its end, with an imminent vote on whether to make it permanent. Naturally, controversy rages. Extreme measures engender extreme reactions.

The program has succeeded in greatly reducing violent crimes against women. But the forcibly sequestered males protest vigorously at the one-sided deprivation of freedom. Rabble rousers urge opposition in strong terms, akin to our actual conspiracy theorists and finger pointers. Helen (Alexandra Burke), a high school teacher, is brutally murdered one night. Pam (Sarah Parish), the grizzled detective in charge of the case, is certain that only a man could have beaten her that badly, even though their system showed no males out that night to have done it. This might be the first time anyone foiled the tech; or Pam may be wrong about the gender of the perp. Her new partner, Eddie (Mitchell Robertson), is timid, but far from inept. Pam suffered a tragedy just before the curfew law went into effect that may be screwing with her objectivity.

As the six hourlong episodes unfold, the sleuthing and politicking are intercut with flashbacks - mainly focused on Helen’s life. We find a bevy of suspects and motives from her career, surprisingly lurid sideline and personal life that adroitly remain undetermined until the finale. For those who read the source novel After Dark by Jayne Cowie, the three credited writers varied quite a bit from the book in both format and substance, so you won’t find this adaptation predictable.

The biggest problem with the series is how much disbelief one must suspend. They pay little, if any, heed to the massive economic upheaval this curfew legislation would cause. All the men who worked evenings and nights outside their homes can’t continue. Are there enough women to fill those jobs? Are there enough openings created by the shifted hours and types of work for those women to provide employment for all those displaced guys? Could it really be practical – or even affordable - to monitor and enforce the entire male population for curfew violations? The effective pace and solid performances minimize the time for thinking about that stuff; but the dubious logistics and logic kept lurking around as distractions.

On the plus side, this series draws attention to real-world concerns across the globe without making a strident, one-sided polemic. Character flaws, hidden agendas and questionable tactics are as rife among the women as the men – if not moreso. Curfew offers food for thought in a solid mystery, so long as you keep those thoughts where the writers hoped.

(Curfew streams on MHz Choice as of 11/3/26)