WARNING: spoilers for Under Salt Marsh episodes 1 and 2 ahead.
For those of us patiently waiting for Yellowstone spinoff Dutton Ranch to hit Paramount+, new Sky TV thriller Under Salt Marsh unexpectedly stops our FOMO.
Why? Yellowstone's Beth Dutton herself (aka Kelly Reilly) stars as Jackie, a detective-turned-teacher who finds her young student's body, reopening a cold case from three years prior involving her missing niece, Nessa.
This means she has to work with her former police partner Eric (Rafe Spall), who divided the town while working Nessa's case. The Bevan family wants answers for their little boy, headed up by elusive farmer Solomon (Jonathan Pryce).
Altogether, this has as much family drama as any Taylor Sheridan series, but it's episode 2 that you need to look out for. Just when the stakes get too much to bear, the local community comes together to heal – and according to Pryce, most of it wasn't even planned.
'It's a very personal moment filmed in an epic way'
The town of Salt Marsh (which is fictional, before you head to Wales looking for it) spontaneously comes together for a seaside vigil, lead by Solomon. While many feel discouraged by Bull leading the investigation, Solomon asks for understanding and persistence, leading the crowd to burst into spontaneous song.
"What you see is what you get," Pryce tells me. "It's a very important moment to the show. It's a very personal moment, but it's filmed in a very epic way.
"We're on this wonderful, expansive beach at Barmouth. It's a chance for you to see the family coming together. I'm remembering it now and a lot of it was not scripted. As we came together, singing together, was an extraordinary moment."
For Pryce particularly, Under Salt Marsh marks a homecoming. You might not have realized it from his roles in James Bond and 3 Body Problem, but he's a Welshman through and through.
"I think telling an original story was a big part of the attraction, and the fact that it was to be filmed in North Wales, where I'm from. I've filmed in Wales quite often, but nearly always in and around Cardiff, that area.
"There's the widest fascination with murder constantly in our life, but it's a new way of telling an old story, as it were. There are only so many you can tell, and this has the background of a community that is under threat from the environment. So there's that external threat you see existing in the program, and then there's the inner turmoil in the community where the murders have taken place. There's a lot of mistrust."
Bring on episodes 3-6, I say.
Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button!
And of course you can also follow TechRadar on TikTok for news, reviews, unboxings in video form, and get regular updates from us on WhatsApp too.
