The Long Call is a British crime drama television series developed by Kelly Jones and Silverprint Pictures based on the 2019 novel of the same name by Ann Cleeves. It premiered on ITV in the United Kingdom on 25 October 2021 and was released internationally as a BritBox original following broadcast. The series starts with Detective Inspector Matthew Venn standing outside the church as his estranged father’s funeral takes place. On the day Matthew left the strict evangelical community he grew up in, he lost his family too.
Now, as he turns and walks away again, he receives a call from one of his team. A body has been found on the beach nearby: a man with a tattoo of an albatross on his neck, stabbed to death.
The case calls Matthew back to the people and places of his past, as deadly secrets hidden at their hearts are revealed, and his new life and husband is forced into a collision course with the world he thought he’d left behind.
The Long Call provides examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptation Name Change: The surnames of various characters, including Jonathan, Dennis and Ross, are different in the show than they are the novel.
- By-the-Book Cop: Detective Inspector Matthew Venn. Because of his strict upbringing, Matthew is very uncomfortable with "chaos" and became a police officer at least partly because it provides him with a sense of order and justice.
- Character Exaggeration: In the novel, members of the Brethren are mentioned as doing things like watching TV, and Dennis even listens to cricket matches on the radio while in the car. Female Brethren are also described as wearing fairly normal clothing, including trousers. In the show, they eschew modern media and the women all wear dresses and headscarves.
- Close-Knit Community: North Devon's permanent population is scattered throughout a number of towns and villages. Most people seem to know who is local and who is not, and are familiar with each other. The Woodyard community centre run by Jonathan in particular is a hub for social services.
- Color Wash: Used in many scenes, but especially the yellow filter used whenever the inside of a Brethren home is shown. It almost looks as though they are all very heavy smokers who never wash their windows.
- The Fundamentalist: The Brethren are depicted in the show as being very similar to extremely strict Mennonites. They avoid television and the internet as temptations and strive to avoid any "worldly" things. Their doctrine includes the belief that only they will be taken into Heaven during the Rapture, with everyone else going to Hell even if they were otherwise good people.
- Gaslighting: Dennis Stephenson, the leader of the Brethren, is a master of this. He utterly controls his wife Grace by constantly making her doubt her own sanity, and convincing the Brethren that Grace is unwell and in need of his care. Dennis also tries this tactic on Matthew. He projects a welcoming persona, gives Matthew his late father's Bible and even manipulates Dorothy into the appearance of reconciliation with her son so as to try to make Matthew less likely to suspect him. But Matthew does recognize that Dennis is trying to get him onside with these gestures.
- Gayngst: Matthew struggles with depression and low self-esteem due to his intensely judgmental upbringing followed by having to come out as gay and not believing Brethren teachings. Jonathan often acts as his moral support, and in actuality Matthew is well-respected professionally.
- Heteronormative Crusader: Again, the Brethren are strongly hostile towards homosexuality. But in the comparatively tolerant culture of modern Britain they are limited to expelling members of their church, such as Matthew, who are gay.
- Meet the In-Laws: Even the normally laid back Jonathan is cooking well in advance when Matthew's mother Dorothy agrees to come round for tea. Which Jonathan warns Matthew, who is heading into work, that he shouldn't dare be late for.
- Odd Couple: Strait-laced, rule-abiding police Inspector Matthew Venn is married to the much more free-spirited Jonathan.
- Race Lift: In the novel, Jen Rafferty is explicitly a vividly red-headed Caucasian woman. Here she is a woman of colour.
- Sinister Minister: Dennis Stephenson seems charismatic, moral and pious. He also emotionally abuses his wife Grace and artfully manipulates the Brethren both collectively and as individuals. Dennis is also behind Simon Walden's murder, having manipulated Grace into actually doing it because Dennis suspected that Simon threatened his control over the Brethren.
- The Un-Favourite: A rare case of an only child being this. But Matthew's mother Dorothy is a strict follower of the Brethren and she often struggles to simply be civil to him even though she admits that the bitterness has soured her life.
- Wedding Ring Removal: Invoked. Jonathan warns Matthew not to take his wedding ring off before he goes to his father's Brethren funeral.
