99 Words About … The promising start for BBC America’s ‘Copper’

7486396-0-4

The 1864 New York of “Copper” (10 p.m. Sundays, BBC America) is truly a melting pot.

It’s a bit of “Deadwood,” some “CSI” and Sherlock Holmes, and just a smidge of “Gangs of New York.”

Detective Kevin Corcoran (Tom Weston-Jones) keeps the peace in violent Five Points, solving crimes with the help of an African-American physician (Ato Essandoh) who uses Corcoran as the frontman for his ahead-of-their-time scientific deductions.

From Barry Levinson and co-creators Tom Fontana (“Oz”) and Will Rokos (“Monster’s Ball”), it’s a promising first original scripted series for BBC America.

It’s not quite BBC, not quite American.

– CHRISTOPHER LAWRENCE