Twitchers, gangsters, a satanic cult… welcome back to Shetland: CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night’s TV

Shetland

Signora Volpe

Tower Bridge, the Thames, the Gherkin – when Shetland (BBC1) returned without its lead detective it seemed to have lost its way too.

Hard bitting With copper DI Ruth Calder (Ashley Jensen) investigated the murder of a London gang accountant. Meanwhile, on the windswept moors of Britain’s northernmost islands, someone was slaughtering sheep and spraying their carcasses with strange symbols.

The locals suspected a devil-worshipping cult. That was usually a safe bet when DI Jimmy Perez, played by Douglas Henshall, was in charge. But he’s gone now, and those symbols seemed to me more like the squiggles that doolally rock star Prince used rather than his name.

Tower Bridge, the Thames, the Gherkin – when Shetland (BBC1) returned without its lead detective, it too seemed to have lost its way

Hardbitten With copper DI Ruth Calder (Ashley Jensen) investigated the murder of a London gang accountant

In a cleverly constructed double twist, DI Calder turned out to be a Shetlander – and so did an opportunistic thief in high heels and a red dress who made off with a bag of notes from the accountant’s safe.

When the islands are flooded with purple rain, and the killer drives a little red Corvette, my theory will prove correct.

In a cleverly constructed double twist, DI Calder turned out to be a Shetlander – and so did an opportunistic thief in high heels and a red dress who made off with a bag of notes from the accountant’s safe.

Calder chased her north, as did a pair of hitmen, Lukas and John (Arnas Fedaravicius and Don Gilet), whose double act seemed inspired by the Coen Brothers’ crime film Fargo.

Lukas was not only a psychopath, who risked threatening children at gunpoint or stuffing shopkeepers into freezers, but also an avid ornithologist who hoped to see puffins during his visit.

John didn’t flinch when a local was shot in the back of the head, but he was furious when he saw the price of bird guides. ‘£18.99 for a book?’ he screamed. Honestly, that sounds pretty steep for a paperback.

Ashley Jensen was busy setting up her own double act with Alison O’Donnell as ‘temporary detective’ Tosh McIntosh.

Tosh and Perez’s relationship was never the most interesting part of the story: he was her boss, her occasional mentor, but not her father figure.

What’s even more intriguing is that there is an immediate atmosphere of mutual distrust between Calder and Tosh.

Each woman tries to see who’s really in charge, with a clash of styles: the easy-going, affable Shetland approach and the Met’s tendency to see a door and kick it in.

Emilia Fox also plans to stay in Signora Volpe, far from her regular routine, after coming on the trail of a murderer.

Calder is here to stay. How the two detectives learn to trust each other could prove a bigger puzzle than the mystery of the satanic sheep sprayer.

Emilia Fox also plans to stay far from her usual routine in Signora Volpe (Drama) after she finds herself on the trail of a murderer.

She stars as Sylvia Fox, or Volpe in Italian, an MI6 spy mistress who is away to attend her niece’s wedding in Tuscany.

The groom disappears, a woman’s body is discovered at his home, organized crime is involved and before you can say “ciao bella,” Miss Fox is dodging bullets in a high-speed chase.

All her secret service skills prove invaluable: pinching gangsters with seat belts, eavesdropping on lovers in cafes, hiding electronic devices in dead pigeons and, of course, unarmed fights on trains.

The series, which first appeared on the Acorn subscription channel last year but is now available to watch for free, is beautifully shot, with plenty of soft focus: this is the finest crime drama since Endeavour, and much more enjoyable than Emilia’s other show, Silent Witness.

It can be difficult to tell the men apart as they all have perfectly trimmed beards and smoldering looks. However, I don’t think many viewers will write to complain.

This is Italy, so the landscapes and streets are stunningly picturesque. There is no shortage of sun-drenched meadows and romantic barefoot walks. If Merchant Ivory made cozy murder mysteries, this is what they would look like.