Suspect

Viewers expecting a more traditional crime thriller may well be thrown off by the theatrical feel of the series format, with a new pairing of actors each episode. But the show's central whodunnit and the short episode lengths (around 20 minutes each) both work in its favour.

The great cast of Suspect saves the show from being a leaden disaster, but the story underpinning all that capital-A acting isn’t all that interesting.

It's a performance of extremes. I do like the structure basically two-hander plays in 30-minute segments with Nesbitt the constant even if sometimes a scene change was desperately needed. Maybe it would work better on stage. The cast is quality, but my problem is that Danny is unlikeable. ... I struggled to find anyone interesting here.

It is highly theatrical, and it has, oddly, the feel of early lockdown TV, when as much was done with as little as possible. ... I found the theatrics so heightened – Christina regularly appears to her father as a sort of shimmering clue from the afterlife – that by episode seven, it had lost me completely.

In a potentially uneven series, there may be some standout episodes (it’s hard to imagine Duff not being captivating) but so far, Suspect is both very serious and quite silly at the same time.

Suspect isn’t good. It isn’t a compelling new addition to the British TV detective canon. In fact, the only thing convincingly mysterious about it, is its existence.