Small Town Murder Series 1

5 x 15 mins

Meera Syal stars as DC Jacquie Hartwell, a police "Family Liaison Officer" whose role it is to support bereaved families, but finds herself drawn into police investigations.

Shakespearean scholar Professor Leonard Hines is at first glance the victim of a lunchtime hit and run driver, but it soon becomes apparent that he was murdered.

The interesting thing about these series is that the victims are not entirely blameless and perpetrators not wholly wicked, and the motivation is never black and white.

For pedants (and former Warwickshire residents) like myself, one can argue that Stratford residents don't speak with Birmingham accents and Warwickshire police do not encompass Birmingham, Redditch or other places Jacquie ends up, but put that aside and enjoy the story.