Common Sense Media Review
By Marty Brown
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Murder mystery procedural focuses on subtle police bias.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
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Where to Watch
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D.I. Ray
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
D.I. RAY follows its lead detective (Parminder Nagra) as she receives a promotion to investigate "culturally specific homicide." When her theory on her first case has her clashing with her superior, she discovers that there are even more challenges to the job than finding clues and tracking down suspects.
Is It Any Good?
PBS mystery series are practically a mini-genre unto themselves, and this British import follows standard operating procedure. D.I. Ray is a dry procedural with a surprising number of twists that uses the case of the season to explore cultural themes that wouldn't necessarily be found on network television (in this case, police bias against people of color). It does also fall into a few traps, though, cribbing some plot twists from other successful shows and seemingly committing the same tokenism it criticizes by giving only a surface-level portrayal of Ray and other Indian characters' cultural identities. Mostly, though, it dutifully checks the boxes for everything required of a PBS mystery series and should be moderately to pleasantly satisfying, if imminently forgettable, for those who routinely watch them.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the character of D.I. Ray. What do we know about her? What challenges does she face in her profession? How do these challenges affect her police work?
What is Ray's relationship to the case? How does that change or evolve over the course of the season? Does she let personal feelings affect her work?
What is the mystery? What are the clues? Who are the suspects? How do these all change over the course of the series? Does the show end up where you expected it to? Why, or why not?
TV Details
- Premiere date: July 9, 2023
- Cast: Parminder Nagra , Jamie Bamber , Gemma Whelan
- Network: PBS
- Genre: Drama
- TV rating: TV-MA
- Last updated: May 27, 2024
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