Sky Original - The Rising

The Rising is a new supernatural Sky Original, which is being released on the 22nd April.

The Rising Synopsys

Neve Kelly (Clara Rugaard) is dead. Understandably, she’s scared and confused by this new (non) existence, but moreover, when she realises she has been murdered, she’s furious. 

Determined to find her killer and get justice, she takes advantage of her new supernatural abilities to go where the police can’t and investigate her own death.  In doing so, she uncovers deeply buried secrets and is forced to re-examine everything about her life and the people she cared about. 

Neve’s return forces everyone around her to change, confess, or start covering their tracks – including her longstanding boyfriend Joseph Wyatt (Solly McLeod), and his enigmatic cousin Alex Wyatt (Nenda Neururer). 

Her own family struggle to deal with the loss of Neve, and fractures deepen between her estranged father, Tom (Matthew McNulty) and beloved mother Maria (Emily Taaffe), step-father Daniel (Alex Lanipekun), step-sister Katie (Robyn Cara) and step-brother Max (Cameron Howitt).

Review of The Rising

After the first episode, I was left with a lot of questions, wondering what on earth was going on!  Who killed Neve, how is she walking the earth and riding her bike and, most importantly, was this going to get scary?

That was after episode one, after that, I did find it a little slow, but I think this is deliberate to keep you on track with Neve's thinking and following the progress of her murder without getting lost.  It gives you a chance to really get to know each and every character in Neve's life and therefore suspect each one of them of killing her - this is what I did!

The program has a dark Scandi feel to it but it has been adapted from the Belgian crime thriller Beau Sejour, which is currently on series two so I'm quite excited to see if we get a second series too.

Personally, I think this series works well if shown as a weekly episode as each program ends on a cliffhanger and usually with a new suspect.  Being weekly would give you time to digest what you've watched, discuss with friends and family and be ready the following week for another twist!

I binge-watched this in two days, and after episode seven when I "thought" a lot of the questions above had been answered and we find out who the killer actually is, you are treated with a final episode of surprise.  

It's a good watch, one that after episode one you carry on watching as you need to find out who killed Neve and why and how, and that's how it draws you.  I do feel it was slow for me and could have been wrapped up in six rather than eight episodes, but it is dark, it is intense and worth the watch.