BBC America has a long history of bringing over the best of British television, in comedy or drama. So it’s a bit of a disappointment that their first original American series, “Copper” (BBC America, 10 p.m.) is kind of a dud.
Mining the same Five Points atmosphere as Martin Scorsese’s “Gangs of New York,” this one also has a name director at its helm in Barry Levinson.
But the scenes are monochromatic, the writing dull and the acting spotty. Tom Weston Jones is a bit of a stiff as the lead, a policeman they call Copper. That he’s got a spot in his heart for orphan girls is supposed to give him a humanity beyond his brutal attempts to keep the peace, cheating a bit with the brass knuckles.
Once more this series suffers what all other show set in ghe 19th century have had to contend with: comparisons with “Deadwood,” whose authenticity goes beyond anything here or on “The Iron Horse” (AMC, 9 p.m.).
The international cast at least matches the melting pot of 1864 New York. It also includes Will Rokos, Kyle Schmid, Anastasia Griffith, Eva Heissen and others.
“What’s great about going back to a period like the American Civil War in New York City,” says creator Tom Fontana, “is that it is a place that is not dissimilar to our country and our world now. And so to me that’s what’s exciting about it, is to see the parallels and then have some fun with it.”
The fun includes putting in some early day forensic tools, he told reporters at the TV Critics Association summer press tour.
“There is no DNA, there’s no machines,” Fontana says. “It all is about the detectives having to use their minds and really kind of assess the situation. There wasn’t even a morgue in Manhattan at that point. There was only a morgue in Paris.”