Magpie Murders, BBC One review - zinging TV adaptation of Anthony Horowitz's bestseller

★★★★★ MAGPIE MURDERS, BBC ONE Zinging TV adaptation of Anthony Horowitz's bestseller

Not only a whodunnit, but also a two-dunnit

Finding a fresh twist on the traditional detective mystery is virtually impossible, but Anthony Horowitz has made a bold stab at it with Magpie Murders. This TV adaptation (which appeared on the BritBox streaming platform last year) has been masterminded by Horowitz from his 2016 bestseller, which ingeniously features two interlocking stories, one set in the present day and one in the 1950s.

Great Expectations, BBC One review - modernised, muddied and muddled

★★★ GREAT EXPECTATIONS, BBC ONE Modernised, muddied and muddled

Steven Knight gives the Dickens classic a Peaky Blinders feel

There’s no point in being upset with the writer Steven Knight for doing what he usually does; even so, many viewers will find what he has done with Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations far too Peaky for their tastes. 

Happy Valley, Series 3, BBC One review - tension mounts as the Yorkshire crime drama approaches its conclusion

★ HAPPY VALLEY, SERIES 3, BBC ONE Sally Wainwright's masterpiece shows the competition a clean pair of heels

Sally Wainwright's masterpiece shows the competition a clean pair of heels

In this glittering era of global streaming, the viewer is constantly bombarded with the latest and most sensational TV drama from South Korea, Australia, Denmark, California etcetera. But Huddersfield’s own Sally Wainwright continues to show most of the competition a clean pair of heels.

Tokyo Vice, BBC One review - murder, extortion and corruption in the Japanese capital

★★★★ TOKYO VICE, BBC ONE Murder, extortion and corruption in the Japanese capital

Eager American reporter Jake Adelstein plunges into the murky world of the Yakuza

There was originally a plan to make Tokyo Vice a movie starring Daniel Radcliffe, but it has ended up as a TV series starring Ansel Elgort. It’s almost certainly the better for it, because the eight episodes of this first season – the way it ends, or rather doesn’t, makes a second helping inevitable – give it space to explore Japanese culture and its often mutually uncomprehending relationship with American or European values.

Am I Being Unreasonable?, BBC One review - comedy thriller delivers the gags

★★★★ AM I BEING UNREASONABLE?, BBC ONE Daisy May Cooper's new show is promising, looking set to get darker

Daisy May Cooper's new show is promising, looking set to get darker

In case you're not au fait with Mumsnet, the title of Daisy May Cooper's follow-up creation to the stupendous This Country is a nod to the parenting website's readers' questions corner, where the responses boil down to “Yes, you are” and “No, you're not” in equally judgmental proportions. (Although, it has to be said, sometimes the replies are far from that and can be funny or helpful.)

Crossfire, BBC One review - pacy and nail-biting, the holiday from hell

★★ CROSSFIRE, BBC ONE Keeley Hawes gets caught up in a tense but heartless thriller

Keeley Hawes gets caught up in a tense but heartless thriller

A sun-baked island resort; Keeley Hawes taking a leisurely dip in an infinity pool as we hear her in voiceover musing on how events happen unchosen, with you in them; then we are up in her room, where she is texting somebody. The sounds of gunshots and mass panic jolt her into action. She rushes for her trainers – not flipflops, she admonishes herself, you are going to need to run.

The Capture, Series 2 finale, BBC One review - gripping ride to a barnstorming conclusion

★★★★ THE CAPTURE, SERIES 2 FINALE, BBC ONE Gripping ride to a barnstorming conclusion

But could the AI drama have been more chilling if less intent on being thrilling?

[Here be spoilers.] If you have been glued to the second season of The Capture, just ended, does it bother you that its content is borderline science fiction? Probably not. Writer Ben Chanan’s depiction of artificial intelligence may outstrip the reality of what it can currently achieve, but he can sure spin a gripping TV series around AI's potential for creating chaos in the wrong hands. 

The Capture, Series 2, BBC One review - caught up in the China syndrome

★★★★ THE CAPTURE, SERIES 2, BBC ONE Ben Chanan's compelling dystopian drama

Ben Chanan's dystopian drama hits some sizzlingly contemporary notes

When the first series of The Capture arrived three years ago, theartsdesk liked it so much that we reviewed it three times. Writer-director Ben Chanan had successfully, and addictively, tapped into a secret dystopia of blanket digital surveillance and so-called “correction”, in which anyone might be manipulated by shadowy state agencies to serve their own hidden agendas.

Marriage, BBC One review - a brilliantly executed drama series with a big heart

★★★★★ MARRIAGE, BBC ONE A brilliantly executed drama series with a big heart

Nicola Walker and Sean Bean triumph as a couple in a marital minefield

The gifted writer-director Stefan Golaszewski (Him and Her, Mum) has surpassed himself with his latest drama series, Marriage. Given hour-long episodes to play with, rather than the usual half-hour, he has created an unfeasibly rich four-parter out of the simplest of means.

Shetland, Series 7, BBC One review - Douglas Henshall is back for the last time as Jimmy Perez

★★★ SHETLAND, SERIES 7, BBC ONE Can new series recapture the show's former glories?

Can new series recapture the show's former glories?

The last couple of series of Shetland (BBC One) brought the previously much-loved series alarmingly close to shark-jumping territory, converting the remote and thinly-populated Shetland archipelago into a war zone teeming with people-trafficking gangs, murderers and drug dealers. Can Series 7 restore some sanity?