George Gently

This excellent one-off BBC1 drama, screened on Easter Sunday, 2007, and set in 1964, saw Martin Shaw, as saintly and laid back ex Metropolitan Police detective George Gently, going to Northumberland to solve one more case before retiring.

The case Gently is looking to solve is personal, as he suspects psychopathic gangster Joe Webster (Phil Davis) was responsible for the death of his wife, Isabella, and Webster is now involved, it seems, in the deaths of two young bikers. With some skilful twists and turns, one hopes that 'George Gently' will be made into a series.

Richard Armitage played Ricky Deeming the charismatic leader of the gang of bikers, and Lee Ingleby was Gently's youthful and bigoted sidekick, Detective Sergeant John Bacchus - though he was beginning to feel the gently touch by the end, as the chemistry grew.

- Paul Rance/booksmusicfilmstv.com.