High praise indeed.

It’s been called ‘the best thing on TV right now’ (Image: Sky/Little Door)

There are so many British crime dramas available to stream it can be hard to know which one to choose. Huge hits like Happy Valley, Line of Duty and Adolescence have been massive hits with viewers and critics al

Other viewer favourites from recent years include Vera, Unforgotten, The Fall, Luther and, of course, Peaky Blinders. But there’s a brand new drama just released that’s already being called “better than Broadchurch”. And it’s streaming now.

Just released within the last week, Under Salt Marsh has a stellar cast including Kelly Reilly (of Yellowstone fame), Rafe Spall of The English and veteran acting heavyweight Jonathan Pryce, who has starred in The Two Popes, The Crown, Game of Thrones and Glengarry Glen Ross, which has been called the film with the “greatest cast of all time”.

The brooding, atmospheric new drama, which has a rating of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, is set in a remote coastal village in north-west Wales threatened by rising sea levels. Called Morfa Halen in the show, it is actually based on the real Welsh village of Fairbourne, whose residents do indeed face the prospect of having to leave their beautiful village as a result of the rising sea levels on one side and the river and mountains on the other. Scenes from the series were filmed in the village. The stunning scenic shots of marshland in the series were shot in the surrounding Mawddach Estuary.

Kelly Reilly as Jackie Ellis in Under Salt Marsh (Image: Sky/Little Door)

Heavyweight veteran actor Jonathan Pryce is also part of a stellar cast (Image: Sky/Little Door)

It is in this marshland that Reilly’s character, Jackie Ellis, a former detective turned teacher, finds the body of a young boy. While a tragedy in itself, the discovery also stirs up memories of an unsolved case of a missing girl from the village three years earlier, which ended Ellis’s police career.

Critics say it “could be the best British crime drama in years”. Writing in Vogue, Daisy Jones said: “It’s hard to find a genuinely compelling British crime drama these days. Netflix is crammed with throwaway Harlan Coben offerings… ITV detective shows are a dime-a-dozen… But Under Salt Marsh… is one such drama that’s worth paying attention to. It’s one of the more gripping thrillers I’ve seen in years.”

Writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, Craig Mathiseon said Under Salt Marsh is “as good as Broadchurch”, the huge hit starring Olivia Colman and David Tennant that ran from 2013-2017. And Irish News said it was “the best thing on TV right now”.

Is Under Salt Marsh a true story?

There are two separate plot lines in Under Salt Marsh. One focuses on the discovery of a young boy’s body (and the unsolved disappearance of a missing girl three years earlier). This is not a true story.

The other centres on the environmental threat facing the village. And this is based on real events. While Morfa Halen is not a real village, it is based on (and filmed in) Fairbourne, where villagers were tipped in 2013 to become the world’s first “climate refugees”. It was announced then that the village’s flood defences would not be maintained beyond 2054, with a plan of “managed retreat” being proposed which would see the village emptied and eventually abandoned to the sea.

Villagers fiercely fought back against the plans, which have yet to be set out in any great detail, and it seems authorities may be rowing them back too and be ready to ditch previous commitments to “decommissioning” the village.

Under Salt Marsh is streaming on Now TV now.