#slow-paced

PREMISE: The trees. Silent sentinels. Watchful protectors. The most observant of all flora. That’s why they’re called the detectives of the forests. Deliberate, thoughtful, and precise, trees take their time, but they always crack their case. This slow-paced British series was developed as a way for the BBC to monetize their massive library of archival footage of trees.

CHARACTERS: The two protagonists are Maple, a hot-sapped loose cannon, and Elm, a goody-two-shoes who always goes by the book. These two couldn’t be more different, but they became partners when their seeds were dropped in the same area, and now they must learn to work together over decades of slowly growing alongside each other.
         Fir was introduced as a potential love interest for both Maple and Elm, but wound up being used as little more than eye candy. The showrunners were criticized for objectifying Fir, who was rarely involved in any major storylines and whose characterization was thin and one-dimensional. Fir was tragically cut down in a Christmas special (S03.E06 – “Decked All To Hell”).

NOTABLE EPISODE: Maple and Elm spring into action when beavers start chewing up saplings down by the lake. Maple confronts the beavers by slowly unleashing leaves upon the ground over the course of weeks. But the beavers are wise to the plan, and horribly maul Elm while Maple is forced to watch (S02.E04 – “Leave It To Beavers”).

CATCHPHRASE: “I got too many rings for this shit.”

TRIVIA/MISCELLANY: Benedict Cumberbatch voiced all the characters, including the sinister chainsaw.