Skip to content
Bramble

Entertainment

Pierre, Channel 4 crime drama starring David Harewood, gets warm reviews

Channel 4's new London-set drama Pierre, starring David Harewood as a duty solicitor, premiered on 5 October. The Guardian and Radio Times both review it very favourably, with small reservations.

2 outlets · 1L · 1C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: The Guardian
Image: Radio Times

1 / 2

The story, neutrally told

Mixed · 2Pierre, a new Channel 4 crime drama starring David Harewood, premiered on 5 October 2026. Mixed · 2Harewood plays Pierre, a duty solicitor who works at a police station and at a small law firm in west London, rather than a detective. Mixed · 2The series was created and written by playwrights John Donnelly and Roy Williams, and the cast includes Jason Flemyng as Pierre's friend DS Ronnie Miller, Sara Powell as his wife Celeste, Michele Austin as law firm colleague Charlotte, and Dylan Ennis as his son Eli.

Mixed · 2The central plot involves a young Black man's allegation of police racism or harassment; the Guardian says the young man is later found dead, and Radio Times says the first episode's allegation gives Pierre a more urgent quest than his weekly cases. Left · 1The Guardian's Ellen E Jones calls it an "instant crime classic" and a milestone for Black British crime drama, placing it after Red, White and Blue (2020) and Get Millie Black (2024), and praising Harewood's presence and the show's noir look. Left · 1Her main criticism is that the show sometimes buckles under its many characters and storylines, for instance by compressing race and policing politics into chatty dialogue that she says lands "with all the subtlety of an anvil on a pavement"; she also says Powell's role risks being the underwritten, nagging wife, and she suggests a second series.

Centre · 1Radio Times's Jack Seale calls it brilliant and "a cut above", praising the script, characterisation and Harewood's "finely underplayed" lead performance. Centre · 1Seale notes the risk of making every character a kind, witty stand-in for the writer, but says the show is too well-crafted to fall into it, and compares it to Martin Freeman's BBC drama The Responder while calling Pierre less dark and intense.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left1 outlet

Framing
Treats Pierre as a cultural milestone in Black British crime drama, placing it in a lineage of police dramas and Harewood's career.
Emphasis
Race and policing, Harewood's star power, noir style, and the show's place after Luther, Red, White and Blue and Get Millie Black.
Leaves out or plays down
Gives less detail on the weekly cases and the comic side of the show.
Charged language
“instant crime classic”“star power to burn”
For example
“it is another cultural milestone in the story of Black British crime drama.” — The Guardian

Centre1 outlet

Framing
Reviews Pierre as a well-written, character-driven crime drama that avoids genre cliché.
Emphasis
Script, ensemble characters, the underplayed lead and the everyday cases; race and policing appear as a thread.
Leaves out or plays down
Does not place the show in a wider history of Black British television or mention the later death plot point.
Charged language
“a cut above”“brilliant”
For example
“in Pierre it has colour and depth.” — Radio Times

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.