Detective Chief Inspector Vera Stanhope is a frumpy, late middle-aged, hard working and empathetic detective who drinks too much. She's also smart and gets the job done. In this episode she and her colleagues investigate the murder of a 15 year old boy and a subsequent murder. The mystery itself was not particularly interesting and the best part of the show was in introducing us to Vera with all her flaws, strengths, regrets and fears. It's odd but one of my problems with the show was that I had a hard time at first telling apart the two leading support actresses as they looked so much alike in their dress, hair and general appearance, at least from afar. As much as I like Blethyn, I think this is the kind of series that grows on one after time and fortunately Netflix has the first four episodes so I'll be able to test this. An observation on the title of the series - why is it that there's Morse, Wycliffe, Lynley, Murdoch, Lewis, etc. but when the lead detective is a woman, the first name is used?
Review of Hidden Depths
