Luther

Series three, episode two
Luther’s cup is running over. He’s got two tricky cases on the go, he’s the subject of an internal inquiry and there’s a new lady in his life. As we rejoin him, it looks like solving the crimes will be child’s play compared to the other problems.

Our villain, one William Carney, is straight out of sex offender central casting, even down to the oxygen mask. But then ‘Luther’s’ trump card remains its shamelessness – it milks its melodrama for all it’s worth and along the way, somehow transcends cliché and arrives at something really compelling.

We can’t help but feel sorry for Mary, though – we hope Luther’s new love interest isn’t just along to make up the numbers but with the final moments of the episode seeming to promise the long-awaited return of Alice Morgan, we can’t see things panning out well for her.