Mayday

Series one, episode two
Try very hard to imagine an exact mid-point between Michael Haneke’s ‘The White Ribbon’ and ‘Midsomer Murders’. You can’t do it, can you? Fortunately, you don’t need to because ‘Mayday’ has it covered. The claustrophobia and endless petty grievance of small-town life is exploited ruthlessly, but here, it’s viewed through twitching, middle-England curtains.

All crime drama archetype is here. There’s the Daily Mail-reading string-’em-up harridan; the outsider kid; the mid-life crisis widower with his taste for younger women; the hearty, ale-chugging would-be vigilante; the weirdo who lives in the woods – and amazingly, they’re all suspects. Young Hattie Sutton certainly amassed a lot of enemies for a 14-year-old. How this is going to play out is anyone’s guess, but we’re very hopeful that it’ll be great fun finding out. Phil Harrison