Can Shetland still be Shetland without DI Jimmy Perez? Douglas Henshall spent seven seasons nudging the BBC One sleuth up the ranks of British crime shows, playing a bruised, haunted homicide detective with no gimmick apart from the steady erosion of his will. Last year, Perez finally crumbled, driven out of the force by an injustice that required rules to be broken, and by his desire to no longer be left personally broken-hearted by the job. Henshall quit the show, having created a TV copper of rare nuance.
Shetland has returned nonetheless, and it has plenty of attractions left to compensate for Henshall’s considerable absence. Most obvious is the setting, its treeless vistas painted in dark, guilty greens and greys, suddenly forgiven by the clean blue of the sea. The landscape’s alluring Nordic noir vibes would elevate any murder mystery. But for a while, Shetland hasn’t quite been a one-man operation anyway: fans are as invested in Alison “Tosh” McIntosh, the sergeant who was once merely a sidekick, as they were in Perez. Played with an open heart and a resolute intelligence by Alison O’Donnell, Tosh has been all the more beloved since the bold season three storyline in which she was raped – a catastrophe that was so honestly, sensitively handled by O’Donnell (and indeed by Perez) that we are now bonded to her and the show in a way that feels more precious than anything offered by a standard sleuthing box set.
