Parents' Guide to

Coroner

By Martin Brown, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 14+

Police procedural about grief features gore, sexual content.

TV CW , CBC Television Drama 2020
Coroner Poster Image

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What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

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What's the Story?

CORONER is a police procedural about Dr. Jenny Cooper (Serina Swan), an ER doctor who ditches her job after the sudden death of her husband and becomes the titular coroner. A single mother who has inherited a mountain of debt thanks to her husband's gambling addiction, Dr. Cooper lives with an anxiety disorder and feels an obligation to help others who have lost loved ones. She works closely with Detective Donovan McAvoy (Roger Cross) to investigate mysterious deaths, using her unique combination of medical knowledge and empathy to help bring criminals to justice.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

Having a lead character work in a morgue is certainly one way to live up to the "body of the week" trope embraced by most detective procedurals. Coroner's unique take on the familiar formula is that the main character has to work through her own anxiety and grief to do her job. Living with an anxiety disorder is an important topic to explore, but Coroner falls into another TV cliche by allowing rudimentary research dictate Dr. Cooper's motivations and actions, painting her pathology with broad strokes rather than the nuance the complex character deserves.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Dr. Jenny Cooper. What does a coroner do? How do they interact with law enforcement? Is Dr. Cooper different from a typical coroner? How does she approach her work? How does her background impact her work?

  • Families can also talk about treatments for anxiety and depression. Why does Dr. Cooper take medication? How does this affect her son? Her job? Her romantic life? Do you learn anything from Coroner about healthy ways to cope with mental illness?

  • How do different characters on Coroner cope with grief? How do they help one another? What do the cases in each episode have to do with grief?

TV Details

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