The Field of Blood

It’s good to see this grubby Glaswegian crime drama get another run – it slipped under the radar somewhat when it first appeared in 2011. Jayd Johnson remains charming and engaging as Paddy Meehan, the young news journalist scrabbling to achieve in a mans’ world and pushing back against a repressive family too.

There’s no Peter Capaldi this time, but David Morrissey remains – a vision in beige behind the editor’s desk. And Katherine Kelly has joined the cast as ball-breaking editor-in-chief Maloney, a woman who is determined to drag The News into the Thatcherite ’80s if it kills her. The period details – the miners’ strike, the modernisation of the news industry, the weakening of unions – are laid on with a trowel. But the central case – a murder which personally threatens Meehan even as she’s expected to report on it – is intriguing. Concludes tomorrow.