Shetland season 8 faces the hurdle that comes to most long-running shows eventually: how do you survive the departure of a beloved original star?
For seven seasons, Douglas Henshall's DI Jimmy Perez pretty much *was* Shetland, and much of the show came from his perspective: his work, his friends, his family, his inevitably complicated personal life. So when the news came that Henshall was stepping down from the show, viewers were understandably worried about what the show would look like without him — if indeed it continued at all.
The good news is that the new season doesn't attempt to directly replace Perez, and actually turns his absence into an advantage, building a different energy into the series as well as adding a new character.
We don't even get to Shetland immediately, though — the season actually starts in That London, where Ellen Quinn (Maisie Norma Seaton) and her pal Kirsty (Natasha Cottriall) are working some sort of sting on a man in a bar, trying to get him as drunk as possible, before we cut to a crime scene showing said gentleman at home with a bullet hole in his head and DI Ruth Calder (Ashley Jensen) attending. As it happens, the deceased is Philip Remis, a police informant who has been filling the Met in on the workings of a criminal named Cassidy, and Calder assumes that Remis' death means that Cassidy was onto him.
There's evidence of his apartment also having been burgled, and Calder traces the robbery back to Ellen and Kirsty — or more specifically Kirsty, because Ellen's realised she's got herself in far too deep, and has fled home for safety. And where's home for Ellen? Shetland, of course. So with Ellen potentially being a key witness in Remis's murder, Calder is sent to Shetland to retrieve her — and as it happens, Calder herself is originally from Shetland, and is none too pleased about being back.
Meanwhile, the admirable Tosh (Alison O'Donnell), who blossomed into an accomplished detective under Perez's mentorship, is currently the acting DI on Shetland, working her patch and looking into a case of livestock mutilation when she gets the news that a DI from the Met is on her way to locate a witness — and since Calder has no jurisdiction on Shetland, she'll be reporting to Tosh once she arrives.
Already we've got a very different dynamic from the Shetland of old — this time we've got a partnership between two people of more-or-less equal rank, with vastly different backgrounds and spheres of experience. While Calder's not exactly unfriendly on her arrival, it's clear that she intends to stay on the island only long enough to find Ellen and take her back to London, and she's not particularly up for discussing the fact that she was raised here.
What's particularly effective in this early stage is the way that the Tosh/Calder partnership is established. They aren't immediate BFFs, of course, but they are both old enough and mature enough to be professional around each other — though that's not to say they don't show frustration with each other's differing styles at times. Calder's irritated by the way Tosh always introduces herself as "Temporary DI MacIntosh" ("it undermines you — it makes you sound like you're just filling in until the real power shows up"), and Tosh ends up throwing Calder out of an interview for overstepping her role ("your 'help' is distressing our witness — plus, it's annoying"), but there's always the sense that this partnership is full of untapped potential, and as the series progresses, it's incredibly satisfying to see both the characters and the actors develop a rhythm that really works.
Speaking of the actors, the guest cast for this season is pretty formidable: newcomer Maisie Norma Seaton makes a strong impact as frightened but defiant Ellen, and her family on Shetland, the Bains, includes Holby City's Dawn Steele as her mum Stella, Deacon Blue singer Lorraine McIntosh as her aunt Heather and Guilt's Phyllis Logan as her grandmother Grace.
Calder isn't the only one who's followed Ellen to Shetland either, as we also meet two of Cassidy's lackeys, Howell (Don Gilét) and Nowak (Arnas Fedaravičius), who have been sent to tie up this particular loose end, and they exude an immediate sense of menace while also delivering scenes of deliciously dark comedy, such as when Nowak steals a birdwatching guide from one of Shetland's tourist shops, because he's hoping there might be some time to spot some terns and puffins when they're done terrorising a vulnerable young woman.
Without giving too much away, the plot for this season takes some stunning twists and turns, delivering moments of genuine tension as well as some proper shocks, while still allowing its cast to give the kind of stirring, heartfelt performances that make this case feel like it really matters. There's hardly time to miss Perez, because there's just so much going on — and Calder feels like an addition to the show rather than a direct replacement, which is a very smart move.
All in all, there's enough of the old Shetland that we know and love in this latest series (don't worry, Sandy and Billy are still there too!) to ensure its loyal fans won't feel alienated, while still feeling like a show that has evolved and grown to fit its new leads. Plus, there's an absolutely gorgeous new set of opening titles — so keep an eye out for those too...
