Rellik

The title 'Rellik' is simply the word 'Killer' spelled backwards, reflecting the show's reverse-chronology narrative structure.

The series was created and written by brothers Harry and Jack Williams, and was commissioned by the BBC in 2015, with US network Cinemax joining as a co-producer in November 2016.

Harry and Jack Williams began writing Rellik while they were still filming and editing the first series of their previous show The Missing.

The writers deliberately avoided making the reverse storytelling a mere technical gimmick, structuring it instead around the theme that events and motives are rooted in the past, which justified telling the story backwards from the end to the beginning.

The show's structure displays on screen how far back in time each section has moved, starting from the police shooting the suspected killer and working back to the story's origin.

Initial audience reaction to the first episode was mixed, with viewing figures dropping from 4.96 million for episode one to 2.82 million for episode two, and subsequent episodes failing to chart in the BBC1 weekly top 30.

Despite the poor initial reception, the show received acclaim from critics after its finale aired.