Shetland

Series one, episode two
The concluding part of this Ann Cleeves adaptation – yet another in TV’s sudden glut of dramas concerning dark deeds in bucolic places – continues to wring considerable capital out of Shetland’s combination of big skies and claustrophobic, parochial smallness.

Tonight, transparently dodgy academic Paul Berglund gets his collar felt and grievances dating back to World War II are mulled over. Douglas Henshall is suitably grave and stoical as investigating officer Jimmy Perez but eventually, the whole thing just feels too linear and maybe even a touch too tasteful to fully engage. Certainly compared to the berserk, everyone’s-a-suspect melodrama of ‘Mayday’, ‘Shetland’ feels a touch austere. Just occasionally, more is more.