Cormoran Strike (Tom Burke), the protagonist of the series, lives a very difficult life. His mother is a groupie who becomes pregnant with Kormoran after an accidental hookup with a rock star. Father doesn’t really know anything about Kormoran and doesn’t want to know. When Strike grew up, he was sent to serve in Afghanistan, where he lost his leg below the knee. After that, Kormoran demobilized, returned to London and there opened a small private detective agency, initially consisting of him alone. For the agency, he rented a small room in which he himself spends the night, and if some order suddenly arrives, then Strike is completely devoted to his work. However, with orders, let’s face it, he is still tight.
Season 1. “The call of the cuckoo”. Young girl Robin Ellacott (Holiday Granger) comes to Kormoran’s office for a week-long internship as a secretary. Robin feels some confusion when she sees Strike’s rather shabby and cluttered office, but she is not afraid of difficulties and begins to put everything in order.
And almost immediately after her appearance, Kormoran receives a lucrative order. A certain John Bristow (Leo Bill), a representative of a very wealthy London family, comes to him. His half-sister, supermodel Lula Landry (Elarica Johnson), was found dead after falling off her penthouse terrace. Police suspect murder – Lula’s neighbor Tanzi Bestigui (Tara Fitzgerald) claims to have seen Lulu pushed by a man. However, the police did not really find anything, so John turned to Strike to conduct his own investigation.
During the investigation, Kormoran finds out that Robin not only does an excellent job as a secretary, but also provides him with significant assistance in finding the killer. It turns out that Robin has always dreamed of working in the field of investigations, so at the end of her internship, she continues to work for Strike.
Season 2. “Silkworm”. Strike is approached by Leonora Quine, the wife of the famous writer Owen Quine. The writer himself disappeared after the publication of a novel in which he depicted many people from his environment in caricatured and repulsive images.
Season 3. “In the service of evil.” After success in investigating the murder of Lula Landry and the disappearance of Owen Quine, Strike has several new orders and cases seem to be going uphill, but Robin, who has completed the investigators’ course and is now involved in work as a detective, receives a package containing part of female legs.
Season 4. At the end of the third season, Robin marries her fiancé Matthew Cunliff, who is very jealous of her for Strike. The Cormoran agency is contacted by Culture Minister Jasper Chiswell, who is being blackmailed with a thing from the past. To solve this case, Strike sends Robin to go undercover in the Commons.
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The first book in the Cormoran Strike series, The Call of the Cuckoo by author Robert Galbraith, was released in April 2013. Nobody knew this writer, the circulation of the book was small, but it received restrained praise from critics. Three months later, it turned out that JK Rowling herself, the author of the famous Pottery, who wanted to work in the detective genre, intended, of course, for an adult audience, was hiding under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
After this was discovered, the circulation of the book skyrocketed, it was immediately translated into many other languages, including United Statesn, and Rowling after that released three more books in this series, each of which was very successful.
(Interestingly, by the way, the third book and third season of the series showcases the process of determining the true authorship of a sensational literary work.)
The fact that work began on the creation of a series based on the books of this cycle was announced by Brontё film and Television at the end of 2014.
Formally, the series was divided into seasons by books: one book – one season. Moreover, in the first season – three episodes, in the second and third – two episodes each, in the fourth – four episodes.
The first two seasons were released one after another in August and September 2017, the third season was shown in March 2018, and the fourth season was released in August-September 2020.
The original name of the series is Strike (the word itself is translated as “strike”, “strike”), the United Statesn-language name was given quite correctly – “Strike”, because this is the surname of the main character, and the surnames are not translated.
Where did the very unusual name Cormoran come from, the detective himself tells in the series: this is the name of a giant from English folklore. It was this giant who was killed by Jack, the hero of the fairy tales “Jack and the Beanstalk” and “Jack the Giant Killer”.
Joanne Rowling, creating characters for this cycle, did the opposite of Sherlock Holmes. In “Sherlock” Watson was the hero of the war in Afghanistan, but here, as it were, “Holmes” is the hero of the war. In Conan Doyle, Holmes conducts the entire investigation, and Dr. Watson only accompanies Holmes, periodically asking stupid questions to the great detective, but here Kormoran does not demonstrate any special skills and amazing deduction, he simply conducts an investigation, but it is Robin who gets to the bottom of certain details that lead to Strike to success.
Investigation is not the main thing in these books. Apparently, Rowling is much more interested in the gradual development of the relationship between Kormoran and Robin. It clearly shows that Robin is not indifferent to him, despite the presence of a fiancé, whom she is going to marry, well, Kormoran is also not without interest in Robin, although he tries to crush any such feelings, because Robin has a fiancé.
Another goal of JK Rowling’s research is the very peaks of the bottom of London bohemia and the publishing and writing serpentarium (the first and second books). All this is presented very satirically, and it is clear how ironic the writer herself treats these parties. And the second book (and the second season), where the disappearance of a famous writer is investigated and Kormoran and Robin plunge into all sorts of publishing squabbles, is just a balm for the soul, it was very interesting and slightly familiar.
Cormoran Strike was played by Tom Burke, a well-known British actor who mostly starred in TV shows. In the famous TV series “The Musketeers” (2014-2016), he played Athos. And just recently we saw Burke in the great Munk movie, where he played Orson Welles.
Well, one more curious moment: Tom’s father is the famous British actor David Burke, who, among other things, became famous for the role of Dr. Watson in the most British of all the Sherlock Holmes series – The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984-1985).
I really liked Tom Burke as Strike. And purely scenario role was not too advantageous. Kormoran – very calm, unemotional. It can be a little sarcastic, but it doesn’t sprinkle left-right witticisms. And the investigation is not at all as bright as Sherlock Holmes: Strike simply methodically collects facts, interviews witnesses, and so on.
But it’s just served very well! The character, in my opinion, turned out to be natural and humane. And very well played their very gradual rapprochement with Robin. Also, I can’t help but note that some ironic touches of Nathan Fillion slipped in Tom Burke from time to time and I could not get rid of this feeling.
Holliday Granger as Robin is absolutely wonderful! Incredibly charming, charismatic, but at the same time all this is served very carefully and restrainedly, she does not try to outshine Burke’s character, on the contrary – she plays an excellent duet with him.
By the way, I read that JK Rowling (she both advised the creators of the series and acted as an executive producer in several episodes) personally approved Tom Burke and Holliday Granger for these roles and she really liked the way they played.
In terms of staging, everything is also done very worthy. An interesting and so diverse London – from cool social gatherings to dull pubs and a frank London bottom, where the criminal authority Shanker is acquired (he is excellently played by Ben Crompton, well known to viewers from the TV series “Game of Thrones” and “Ideal”) – he is clearly something owes money to Kormoran, so Strike periodically turns to Shanker with instructions.
By the way, in the United Statesn version of Shanker they called Shtyr.
The characters that appear in different seasons are quite interesting and colorful, among them I especially liked Leo Bill as John Bristow (he played Alice’s pompous fiancé in Alice in Wonderland), Tara Fitzgerald as Tansy Bestigui, the neighbor of the deceased Lula Landry, and the local “Inspector Lestrade”, played by Kilian Scott.
Good series, loved it. The investigations are fascinating, the characters are bright and vital, London and its environs are spectacular and at times frightening, it’s great. Here’s what I recommend.
PS I listened to the voice acting. Well, tolerable, but the impression, in my opinion, somewhat spoils: the translation here is quite simple, but the intonation is very important. The voice acting is a little different.
Strike movie meaning
Director: Susan Tully, Michael Keillor, Kieron Hawkes, Charles Sturridge Cast: Tom Burke, Holliday Granger, Kerr Logan, Killian Scott, Natasha O’Keeffe, Ann Akin, Nick Blood, Christina Cole, Adam Long, Sophie Winkleman, Ben Crompton , Leo Bill, Elarica Johnson
Series, UK, 2017, 60 min. 4 seasons, 2-4 episodes per season