Critical Season 2 Updates: Will The Lennie James Drama Return?
Will the Lennie James fronted medical drama Critical return for season 2? Jed Mercurio is a writer/director who's penned some of the best British TV thrillers of recent years. He created the unbearably tense police drama Line Of Duty, which has been running since 2012. He's also behind breakout BBC drama Bodyguard, where Richard Madden's title character is tasked with protecting a Home Secretary (Keeley Hawes) targeted by unknown forces. The show's great writing shocking twists and stellar acting made it a word of mouth success, especially after its Netflix debut; it's expected to return for a second season.
Jed Mercurio also wrote for the first season of action series Strike Back starring Richard Armitage and Andrew Lincoln. The writer worked as a practicing hospital physician long before his TV show career took off, and he's penned medical dramas like Cardiac Arrest and Bodies. He added to that list with 2015's Critical, a Sky 1 series that revolved around a team of medical professionals tasked with saving the lives of patients following horrible accidents. In particular, the show focuses on the "Golden Hour," where the first hour of treatment is often crucial in saving patients.
Critical was described by some as a medical version of 24 and became known for its realistic, and often extremely graphic, surgery sequences. It was also fronted by a great cast, led by Lennie James and Irish actress Catherine Walker, but will it return for another series?
Despite receiving good reviews Critical wasn't a huge ratings winner, leading the show to be cancelled before a second season. Lennie James later expressed his disappointment with the decision and took Sky 1 to task for not doing enough to promote the series during its original run. While it's not unheard of for a series to be revived on another network or platform years after its cancellation, there's been no sign of Critical being revisited.
Even if there was interest in reviving Critical season 2, its creator and leading man have since moved on to other projects. Jed Mercurio is busy focusing on new seasons of Bodyguard and Line Of Duty, while Lennie James is currently playing Morgan on Fear The Walking Dead. That's not to say Critical season 2 couldn't come together but over five years after it finished, the chances of a new series being put together now seem bleak.