Review: Gotham (S2 E12/22), Monday 28th March, Channel 5

While the second half of Season 2 of Gotham is titled Wrath of the Villains, in many ways it’s a goodbye – Theo Galavan, Tabitha and Silver St Cloud are pretty much out of the picture, and there’s a new baddie on the block; the cryogenic killer we know is to become Mr Freeze.

ITV confirms Scott & Bailey transmission date

Sally Wainwright – one of our premiere writing talents – started a bit of a monster in 2011 when she unleashed the excellent crime-solving duo Scott & Bailey (starring Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharpe) on us. Four series later it’s still going strong, and the show’s home network, ITV, today announced that it  will be returning for a fifth series. When? Read on after the jump!

Interview: Anna Friel, Marcella

Hans Rosenfeldt has built a strong and loyal following in crime drama circles thanks to his work on The Bridge, but his first ever British drama is about to be unfurled. Marcella stars Anna Friel as a troubled cop, who, 10 years ago gave up her fast-tracked police career to marry and devote her life to her family. With the abrupt end to her marriage and isolated from her 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son, Marcella throws herself into work to stop herself from falling apart. She instantly becomes involved with a serial killer case she first worked on in 2005. To say we’re looking forward to this eight-part series is an understatement, and we’ve managed to get hold of an interview with Friel, which is over the jump.

Review: Murdered By My Father, Tuesday 29th March, BBC3

C) BBC – Photographer: Des Willie

Twenty-fourteen’s Murdered By My Boyfriend was a harrowing tale based on a real-life story, detailing an abusive relationship that culminated in the brutal murder of a young woman. Not only was it an engrossing, compelling and extremely difficult to watch drama, it was also a necessary watch – it shed light on the kinds of power relationships that exist within an abusive relationship that are rarely reported by the media, and answered that age-old question: why did she ever stay with him? Its star, Georgina Campbell, rightly won a BAFTA for her incredible performance. Now there’s a follow-up – Murdered By My Father – which looks for all the world to be another difficult but vital watch.

NB: This is now online to watch, but many won’t have seen it yet. There are spoilers ahead.

Was Rowan Atkinson’s Maigret too deadpan?

(c) Photographer John Rogers.

We had our first taste of Rowan Atkinson’s Maigret last night, in the feature-length story Sets A Trap. When Atkinson was first announced to play Georges Simenon’s classic early 20th century Parisian detective it divided opinion – surely someone who has made a living from comic characters couldn’t pull off the deadpan Maigret? Fans of classic crime fiction are very strong in their opinions, but for the most part, Atkinson seemed to go down well. While it wasn’t perfect, Sets A Trap was an entertaining enough couple of hours. But there has been a question nagging at me since I saw it a few weeks ago.

Review: Maigret (Sets A Trap), Monday 28th March, ITV

Parisian Chief Inspector Jules Maigret first appeared in 1931 and smoked his thoughtful way through an amazing 75 novels and 28 short stories (often at the rate of three novels a year). His creator Georges Simenon was Belgian rather than French, but moved to Paris in 1922 to further his writing career. Maigret has been portrayed (in English) by Rupert Davies in the 60s and Michael Gambon in the 90s, and now by Rowan Atkinson in a new ITV series. Atkinson’s first two-hour first episode, Maigret Sets a Trap, is based on the 1955 novel of the same name.

Review: Thirteen (S1 E5/5), Sunday 27th March, BBC3

(C) BBC – Photographer: Sophie Mutevelian

For four weeks, Marnie Dickens has taken us on a rollercoaster ride with her debut stand-alone series, Thirteen. Her five-episode thriller has introduced us to Ivy Moxam – a young woman who, for 13 years, had been held captive in the basement by a man called Mark White. Now escaped, the series has chronicled her journey of re-introduction into society – finding her way in a new, expedient world, and trying to comprehend how the people that were close to her have changed. But it hasn’t just been about her re-introduction into the world: because of some tight plotting and writing, we’ve constantly had to ask ourselves who is Ivy Moxam? In this final episode, we found out.

NB: Because this has aired on the internet first, not everyone will have seen it. Spoilers are plentiful here.

The 10 Best Crime Dramas This Week (Monday 28th March – Sunday 3rd April)

We’re slap-bang in the middle of the Easter weekend, so take a pause and a breath and bathe in that idea of rejuvenation… because this coming week is just a busy as ever. The first of Rowan Atkinson’s Maigret films airs out tomorrow night (Monday), while Line Of Duty continues apace on Thursday (and what a pace!). Elsewhere, one of the more underrated and undervalued procedurals – Longmire – is back on one of the Channel 5 channels and there’s the follow-up to Murdered By My Boyfriend on BBC3. Enjoy!

Review: Line Of Duty (S3 E1/6), Thursday 24th March, BBC2

(C) World Productions – Photographer: Steffan Hill

Your average cop procedural has the capacity to trundle along like a decent mid-range Beemer. But such an exclusive marque is Line Of Duty that it can afford to begin with a high-octane burst – and the audacity of this third series opener is the TV drama equivalent of an Aston Martin Vanquish doing doughnuts around the Cenotaph.

The Tunnel: Sabotage pushed back a week due to Brussels terrorist attacks

Sky Atlantic’s The Tunnel – starring Stephen Dillane and Clémence Poésy – was based on The Bridge, and, all in all, did a pretty good job of transporting that idea of two mis-matched cops from different, neighbouring countries investigating a crime on neutral ground to an Anglo/French framework. The second series, which keeps the dynamic of the two central characters but cuts ties with The Bridge in terms of story, was slated to start in the first week of April, but due to tragic events in Brussels has been put back a week.