What do you get when you combine one boozer of a cop, his missing wife, and his obsession with an amnesiac? The gripping British psychological thriller Amnesia, which has finally made its way to US broadcasters courtesy of local public television stations.
Meet DS Mackenzie “Mack” Stone (John Hannah, New Street Law, Spartacus, Damages). Ever since his wife Lucia walked out on their troubled marriage three months ago and left him with an empty bank account and no word on her whereabouts, Mack’s life has been spiraling down, down, downward.
Mack is no good to anyone in this state, least of all the police force, so his boss, DI Brennan (Patrick Malahide, Game of Thrones, The Paradise, Inspector Alleyn Mysteries), gives him several months’ leave so he can get himself sorted. Except Mack’s version of getting sorted is turning to the bottle and turning himself into a black-out drunk. One with an obsession for solving the mystery of his missing wife and an ever-loosening grip on reality.
Desperate for a lead, Mack takes to posting Lucia’s picture on missing-persons websites. Upon his return to work, he finds a picture of Peter West, a shady character who might have murdered his wife and son and is a missing person himself. Mack is convinced that West is actually the amnesiac John Dean (Anthony Calf, New Tricks, Upstairs Downstairs, Dracula).
Dean had made headlines five years earlier when he turned up at a local hospital with total global amnesia — he remembered nothing about who he was or where he came from — and no one came forward claiming to know him, despite all the publicity to discover his true identity. Being clueless about his past hasn’t stopped Dean from moving forward, though, as he marries the well-to-do Jenna (Jemma Redgrave, Frankie, Doctor Who, Bramwell).
Instead of happily ever after, the couple are in nightmare due to Mack’s suspicions about and relentless pursuit of Dean/West.
Mack’s erratic behavior isn’t helping his case and his claims that Dean and West are one and the same man are losing credibility with DI Brennan and DC Ian Reid (Brendan Coyle, Downton Abbey, Starlings, Lark Rise to Candleford) by the minute, to the point where even Mack is starting to question his own mind. And as he delves deeper, he discovers that Dean isn’t the man he claims to be. Then again, the same could be said of Mack.
In this tense, twisting psychological thriller, viewers won’t know who’s lying and who’s telling the truth until the last 10 minutes of the two-part series.
The following public TV stations have recently begun screening Amnesia.
UPDATE: Stations in Arizona, Florida, Oregon, and Washington have picked up the program.
| State | City | Station |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Tucson |  |
| Florida | Miami |  |
| Idaho | Boise, Coeur d’Alene, Moscow, Pocatello, Twin Falls |  |
| Kentucky | Ashland, Bowling Green, Concinnati/Covington, Elizabethtown, Hazard, Lexington, Louisville, Madisonville, Morehead, Murray, Owensboro, Owenton, Paducah, Pikeville, Somerset |  |
| Oregon | Bend, Corvallis, Eugene, La Grande, Portland |  |
| Rhode Island | Providence |  |
| Texas | Austin |  |
| Washington | Seattle |  |
| West Virginia | Grandview, Bluefield-Beckley, Huntington, Morgantown |  |
| Wisconsin | Milwaukee |  |
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