Holding ITV

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NationalWorld is a new national news brand, produced by a team of journalists, editors, video producers and designers who live and work across the UK. Find out more about who’s who in the team, and our editorial values. In prose – though, to be clear, I’ve not actually read Norton’s novel, I’m thinking more broadly – it might be easier to convey certain charms, quirks, and idiosyncrasies compared to a television drama that never quite breaks from what you might call ITV house style. Subplots like one character preparing to move away or another’s inappropriate relationship are at once a necessary part of this genre, which depends on the town itself feeling unique even if the crime is a little familiar, but don’t always feel like they’re given space to breathe and assert themselves. He’s a gentle, insecure protagonist, trying to hold together the local community – which he’s still not quite part of, only there for three years compared to their decades –and the brusque big city cop who’s more interested in efficient detective work than accommodating the people who live in the small town. He’s stressed and panicking, much happier sitting in his car eating bits of cheese – straight out of the packet, folding each slice into a single bite – than interrogating suspects or brooding on lonely beaches. There are surface differences – each house on the street is painted a different colour, which is a nice little visual quirk – but underneath it all the bones of this story are essentially the same as any other given example you might care to name.