Lynda La Plante has been regarded for the pioneering work she did in Widows and Prime Suspect.

I found this to be a troubling episode. In some ways it reminded me of these torture porn films, where a woman is brutalised for well over a hour but the whole thing is an ode to feminism. She kills her rapists at the end.

Walker and North investigate some brutal killings of prostitutes. It then leads to the murders of a non prostitute but one person survives and gives some kind of a description.

Walker finds a van that was described by the survivor. It belongs to Damon Morton but other men confess to the killings.

It seems Damon is somehow controlling these men.

Maybe the graphic murders was inspired by the Ripper murders. I found little about Damon Morton to be convinced in the first episode that he was some kind of a charismatic psychopath.

It also has the lazy trope of the young black father who wants little to do with his daughter.

First off Iain Glen made my flesh crawl. I don't think I'll ever be able to see him the same way again. I guess that's a tribute to his acting chops. But the lawyers in this series are absolute despicable human beings. I've never attended a trial like this unless you count the endless hours I watched the OJ Simpson trial or the Casey Anthony trial. These 2 episodes are cringeworthy at best. I personally find it hard to watch manipulators being portrayed. I know people can be that gullible in real life but I personally believe most can see through that nonsense. I get this is an older production so I take that into consideration when rating. It's worth the watch the story telling is quite good. But Iain Glen ....dude I'll never see you differently than this role.

Episode 1 started off well with the split screen usage being very effective in relating the horrific murder of a prostitute and near murder of a second. When a third woman met a similarly grisly death the plot moved quickly to the arrest of three young men who all confessed to the killings.This is when implausible situations took over, one after another, leaving me gobsmacked that a Lynda La Plante novel (if script and plot were faithfully followed) could be so mediocre.Damon, the manipulative mastermind of the three attacks, is credited with an overpowering control of the three accused and yet there is little to suggest why this is so. He treats not only senior police who have arrested him but also his own legal adviser with incredible contempt - to the point that Damon himself becomes an unbelievable character.As the second episode deals mainly with the court proceedings I thought credibility would gain the upper hand but the implausibility of situations became almost over-powering. What a pity because the actors tried hard to be convincing but the deficiencies in this production had too much of a stranglehold on this disappointing series.

This is an interesting new way (if you exclude the first T&R!) of presenting a murder case. It follows the story from the first murder to the verdict in court.

A serial killer is stalking women in London, torturing them and then murdering them. When suspects are arrested the police face a difficult task to get to the bottom of the mystery. Any more would give it away!

The story has much graphic violence but it is in context and adds realism to an already gripping piece of television.

The story benefits from superb performances from the cast but special praise must go to David Hayman and Kate Buffrey who both portray realistic police officers trying to get the right result.

If you like your murder mysteries with a new slant on them, try this. The good news is that there are altogether four of these stories with the first also being exceptional.

Well done Lynda La Plante and well done ITV for making and showing it.